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SICETCB of the MIIJTA2T ]POHTIClI ]PO‘WSI of BITSST/L, m the Year 1817. 



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Boundary of Russia in 1800 Own 
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OF THE 


MILITARY AND POLITICAL POWER 


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MILITARY AND POLITICAL POWER 


OF 

RUSSIA, 


IN 


THE YEAR 181 7 - 

f> J s 

_ . I '/} ' *• 


S UR PENS NISI SERPENTEM COMEDERIT—NON SIT DRACO. 


JVEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY KIRK AND MERCEIN, 
22, Wall-Street. 


E. 4* E. Hosford, Printers , Albany. 







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PllEFAC E. 


—o*o>— 

*1 HE tranquillity of Europe was the profess¬ 
ed object and promise of the belligerent system 
pursued fov twenty-five years by the British 
Cabinet: a tranquillity, not such as Tiberius or 
Sylla conferred on Rome, when the oppressed 
and the wretched were denied the utterance of 
their griefs, but one which should be the fruit 
of a policy conciliating the public feeling, and 
associating to its support the wise and the good 
of all countries—a tranquillity, which should 
possess the principles of self preservation, by 
connecting the powerful and the weak, the con<- 
quering and the conquered, in bonds of com¬ 
mon interest. 

It would be a mockery of the public under¬ 
standing to enter into an elaborate discussion 


VI 


PREFACE. 


for the purpose of proving, that this pledge 
has, in no one instance, been redeemed. 

Where is that peace accompanied with the 
blessings of peace ? 

What injuries have been redressed by a 
disinterested act of justice ? 

What passions have been appeased by the 
generosity of power? 

The eye of the most resolute is daunted at 
the flashes of popular indignation—The throes 
of suffering humanity are accompanied with an 
expression of despair so fearful as to make 
foolish men to think, and thinking men to trem¬ 
ble. 

“We have suffered affliction without gain¬ 
ing wisdom,” and, severe as the late struggles 
have been, there is too much cause to appre¬ 
hend 44 our warfare is not accomplished”—that 


PREFACE. 


VH 


there may be other struggles, which, if once 
begun, can admit of no compromise, since 
former disappointment will animate the con¬ 
tending parties with an unrelenting ferocity, 
susceptible of no mitigation. 

The author, how r ever, does not propose to 
notice more of the moral state of Europe, than 
is necessary to establish his position, that Rus¬ 
sia, profiting by the events, which have afflicted Eu¬ 
rope, has not only raised her ascendancy on natural 
sources, sufficient to maintain a preponderating poiv- 
er, but farther, that she has been presented by her 
rivals with the sceptre of universal dominion . Bold 
as this position may be thought, the prediction 
of such an event was made when the horoscope 
of Russia, to common observers, did not appear 
so fair. The prediction, nevertheless, has been 
so closely verified, that the extract will engage 
interest. 

44 When the Czar and the Consul draw forth 
their legions in hostile array, mediation, armed 


Vlli 


PREFACE. 


coalitions, neutral conventions, and demarcation 
lines , will be of little avail. These powers 
have long been unused to cabinet warfare, and 
to courtier etiquette in the field. 

“ The intervention of other states may hasten 
their own subjection, but cannot ward off their 
fate. The chieftains of Russia and France 
will meet nearly on the centre of the world 
the object of their quarrel will not be a bishop¬ 
ric, a sugar island, nor who shall read their 
mass in Latin, or say their prayers in Greek— 
they will fight for the possession of the Hel¬ 
lespont and Bosphorus, two posts on which 
hangs now suspended the empire of our Eastern 
Hemisphere. Such contending parties will not 
come out to skirmish and then mutually retire, 
nor will they fight for conquests to give away ; 
the one will keep the field, and with it the 
Dictatorship of the World*!” 

* “ Sketches on the intrinsic Strength, Military and Na¬ 
val Force, of France and Russia/’ 1803. 


PREFACE. 


IX 


Some political Hectors have thrown down 
the gauntlet, as if they were prepared to op¬ 
pose attitude to attitude, and force to force— 
As- if a power really existed to repress or pu¬ 
nish any and every attempt to remove a neigh¬ 
bour’s landmark. 

The hour of illusion is, however, passed, 
and mankind are no longer the dupes of big 
or fair words. That belief, that faith, which 
was indulged after reason had ceased, is final¬ 
ly exhausted; and, though Don Sebastian, or 
Joanna Southcote may still live in the credu¬ 
lity of their followers, although Mahomet might 
yet attract multitudes to see him put the moun¬ 
tain in march, or bottle conjurors again levy 
a fine on London’s curiosity, Englishmen will 
no longer be persuaded by ministers to shut 
their eyes, as witless children, and catch at 
fruit, which, when caught, is 

Like the apple on the Dead Sea’s shore, 

All ashes to the taste. 


B 


X 


PREFACE. 


The vessel of the state was committed to 
the guidance of fortune; wisdom and experi¬ 
ence pointed out the dangers of the course, 
and foretold, that, if she escaped shipwreck 
on the voyage, her damage from the conflict¬ 
ing currents would be greater than the profits 
of the venture could repair. 

The artist, who in anger dashed his brush 
against the canvas, might as well have claimed 
merit for design and execution—the Athenian 
tanner might, with as much justice, have pre¬ 
sumed to hang up his shield in the temple of 
Minerva, to commemorate the triumph at Pylus, 
as the British ministers arrogate to their coun¬ 
cils and deliberations the issue of the contest 
against France. They reeled to and fro like 
drunken men, and having obtained a fortuitous 
success—a success which verified the philoso¬ 
phical maxim, that “ events often justify fool¬ 
ish conduct”—they expected the same chance 
would also make them statesmen, and add 
“ the governing mind” to her gifts. 


PREFACE. 


xi 

Financial difficulty was the inevitable con¬ 
sequence of a war policy; yet peace might 
have been established on such foundations, 
that governments and nations would have unit¬ 
ed in the spirit of peace. 

England devoted all her resources to re¬ 
move the danger of one domineering rival, 
France ; but Russia, profiting by the occasion, 
mounted to a higher pinnacle than that rival 
ever reached; while America, nourished by 
the war system, became a naval power, threat¬ 
ening to take her station on the high seas, and 
throw a boom composed of her ships of war 
across the channel of communication with the 
Indies. 

In addition to these, what may be called 
preternatural, creations, impregnated with ac¬ 
tive life fatal to England’s continental ambi¬ 
tion, and alarming to her maritime superiority, 
France herself, shorn but still terrible, has 
been rendered malevolent to the highest de- 


PREFACE. 


xii 

grce, and offers her embraces to whoever will 
assist her revenge. 

Instead, therefore, of the one original rival, 
England has to contend against three rivals, 
aided by the unfriendly spirit pervading the 
universe. 

Notwithstanding all the feu de joics she has 
fired, such is the state of her foreign relations; 
and the domestic picture is no less alarming; 
while her enemies, aware of her condition, do 
not seem inclined to neglect the opportunity 
for the accomplishment of her ruin. 

’ How just is that observation, 

Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos; 

and how greatly does that ruler wrong him¬ 
self, who, with a natural benignity and a gene¬ 
rous education, with endowments and acquire¬ 
ments eminently calculated to obtain public 
favour and affection, nevertheless lends his ear 


PREFACE. 


xiii 


io evil counsellors, and thus impairs his popu¬ 
larity, by permitting measures subversive of 
that constitution he would defend, and destruc¬ 
tive of that national prosperity it is his interest 
as well as disposition to promote. 

There is in this work no pretension to pub¬ 
lish new facts: to relate truth, with regard to 
those already known, and nothing but the truth, 
is the sole object. More information, perhaps, 
might have been given, to elucidate and confirm 
several assertions; but the inviolability of con¬ 
fidence imposes paramount restraints. 

Kings, ministers, statesmen, and generals, 
may be pleased or displeased—the historian, 
who would instruct, must reject all partiality 
and animosity: he must say Tros , Tyriusve , &c. 
But as it is not probable that he should avoid 
giving offence, when executing the duties of a 
public writer, and recording transactions, which 
require an impartial sentence of approbation 
or of animadversion to stamp their character, 


XIV 


PREFACE. 


and affix the judgment of the passing age, he 
must be prepared to encounter the resentment 
of power, wounded in its pride, and of criminal¬ 
ity writhing under rebuke. 

These are times, when those, who w^ould 
save their country, must put themselves in the 
breach, without any regard to personal safety, 
and be prepared to exclaim, with the Roman 
orator, 

Quinetiam corpus libenter obtulerim si reprcesen- 
tari morte med libertas civitatis potest , ut aliquando 
dolor populi Romani pariat quod jamdiu parturit. 

It may be said, that, with such feelings and 
such a vaunt of them, the name of the author 
also should appear inscribed on the title-page; 
and so it would have appeared (notwithstand¬ 
ing the ignotumpro magnijico is frequently favour¬ 
able), if the etiquette of literary combat with 
an anonymous champion did not prescribe the 
use of a closed vizor; but no other motives 


PREFACE. 


XV 


have withheld the signature; and so far from 
seeking concealment, or proposing to fight un¬ 
der false colours, the author holds himself al¬ 
ways ready to maintain against adverse com¬ 
peers* in the broad face of day, all those state¬ 
ments, allegations, and opinions, which his pen 
has traced in these pages. 

All attempts to influence the judges are ille¬ 
gal, and indicative of a bad cause or base fear; 
but still, the hope may be stated, that critical 
eyes will be blind to imperfections of style and 
diction: the manner sues for lenity—the mat¬ 
ter challenges award. 




‘ 

JT ■ f ' ■■ '• 


■ 











A 


SKETCH, 

&C. 8{C. 


An Extraordinary Article has appeared, un* 
der the head of Frankfort , accompanied with 
some Observations which authorise atten¬ 
tion. 


The whole article is here inserted, as the 
basis of that inquiry and those reflections 
which follow:— 


u It seems to be necessary, that Europe should be ac¬ 
quainted with her danger. The danger does not and will 
not come from England, or from France, or from Austria. 
It will come from the North—from Russia. Russia is the 

power which is desirous of assuming the high and dic- 

c 


2 


tatorial attitude which France assumed under the tyranny 
of Bonaparte. It is on this account she did every thing 
in her power to prevent the intimate alliance between 
England and the Netherlands, by a marriage between the 
two families, and to connect the House of Orange with 
the imperial family of Russia. It is for this purpose she 
brought about the marriage of the King of Wurtemburg 
with the Duchess of Oldenburgh. It is for this purpose 
she is connecting herself also by family ties with the 
House of Brandenburgh. It is with this view that she 
does not view with much displeasure the charges of foreign 
libellers against England, because they may tend to 
weaken the esteem and respect for that great nation; or 
those constant attacks upon the government of France, 
which may tend to keep up alarm and apprehension in the 
interior of that country. She relies upon alienating Eng¬ 
land and France from each other, by encouraging reci¬ 
procal jealousies and ill will. ,> -— Frankfort . 

“ We are disposed to give the Frankfort writer cre¬ 
dit for the sincerity of his fears ; but we own we 
do not share them, nor do we contemplate affairs in 
the same point of view. In the first place, he re¬ 
lies too much upon the operations and effects of fa¬ 
mily alliances. The experience of all history shows 
us how feeble they are whenever they at all clash 
with any favourite plan of policy, of ambition, or 
aggrandisement. We know not, and care not, what 
influence Russia had, or whether she had any, in 


3 


breaking off the intended marriage between the fami¬ 
lies of Brunswick and of Orange; because the union 
between the families of Brunswick and of Saxony 
has given perfect satisfaction to the people'of this 
country $ and surely no prince could have been se¬ 
lected, whose conduct could have been more highly 
praiseworthy than the conduct of the Prince of Saxe 
Cobourg. The opinion we have given, of the effect 
of marriages in general between sovereign families, 
will apply to the other marriages the Frankfort Cor¬ 
respondent has alluded to. Wurtemburg indeed! 
What effect can she produce, or what weight can she 
have in the scale of European policy ? With re¬ 
spect to the charges of foreign libellers against Eng¬ 
land, we are not astonished at them, because they 
come from notorious jacobins; nay, we are willing to 
go farther, and assert, that we have deserved it at 
their hands. We put them down, and their libels 
and calumnies are the natural offspring of revenge 
and disappointment. But we have often been sur¬ 
prised at the impunity and asylum that were so long 
afforded them. Surely no power in Europe is un¬ 
der greater obligations to England than the govern¬ 
ment of the Netherlands. It was the influence of 
this country, in a great measure, that combining the 
United Provinces with the Netherlands, established 
the family of Orange upon a powerful throne :—one of 
the wisest strokes of policy that could have been 


4 


devised. It seems to us to be absurd to suppose, 
that the kingdom of the Netherlands could give into 
any views of aggrandisement which Russia might have, 
or enter into any offensive treaty with her, against 
France and England: for such a policy would com¬ 
bine both against her. And what efficacious service 
could Russia, so distantly situate, render her ? Be¬ 
sides, it is to be considered, that the development 
of such a policy would not be viewed with indiffe¬ 
rence or inertness by Austria. And in such a state of 
affairs as that to which the Frankfort Correspondent 
alludes, it would not be difficult to find employment 
on the side of Turkey. But we repeat, that we con¬ 
sider the fears of the Frankfort Correspondent as 
chimerical. We do not believe Russia to have any 
such intentions. That, which in all former times was 
deemed improbable, is now not only probable, but 
apparent and extant. England and France have 
discovered it to be their interest to be firmly and 
cordially united; and we, perhaps, do not hazard 
much in affirming, that there are no two courts in 
Europe between whom a better understanding sub¬ 
sists. Austria is united to both w r ith the same cor¬ 
diality and intimacy. And now we should be glad to 
ask , what could any other power , or all of them to - 
gether , effect against the union of Great-Britain, Aus¬ 
tria , and France ? The peace of Europe is not likely 
tp be soon disturbed. No power has any motive in 


5 


disturbing it: all have powerful motives in preserving 
it.”— London. 

There is an old F rench proverb 44 qui s'ex¬ 
cuse s'accuse and certainly Russia must re¬ 
gard this gratuitous publication of opinions 
hostile to her professions, and of admonitions 
insulting to her power, as a proceeding inde¬ 
corously expressive of jealousy and appre¬ 
hensions. 

To imagine enmity, and then threaten con¬ 
trol or correction, is not merely antipacific 
but offensive. Schoolboys, when a battle is 
to be got up, are made to say to some pitted 
champion, 44 I heard you wanted to bully me: 
I don’t believe it; but if you did I would give 
you a good drubbing.” The same spirit of re¬ 
sistance animates them when men, and the 
threat exasperates more according to the pride 
of station. 

Nations as well as individuals are sensible 
to those voluntary taunts. What Englishman 
fias forgotten the sensation which Napoleon’s 
remark, that 44 England could not contend 


b 


against France single-handed” diffused through 
. the people he proposed to humiliate ? 

The subject, however, shall be investiga¬ 
ted, as the preliminary indiscretion has been 
committed ; and, by a dispassionate, correct 
review of the state of Europe, it will be de¬ 
monstrated, that the folly of provocation is 
augmented by the total want of means to sus¬ 
tain the challenge. 

For this purpose it will be necessary to 
enter into some sketch of the Russian Euro¬ 
pean history. 

Little more than a century since, the ground 
on which Petersburg!* stands w r as an uninha¬ 
bited morass, and all the surrounding coun¬ 
try w as under the dominion of Sweden, then 
in alliance and territorial connection with Po¬ 
land, a kingdom containing above seventeen 
millions of inhabitants, and Turkey, whose 
power was so formidable as to make Peter 
the Great, after his victory at Pultawa, capi¬ 
tulate on the Pruth, ransom his liberty with 


7 


his wife’s jewels, and repay tribute to the 
Tartars. 

The ambition, the talents, and the fortune 
of Peter the Great prevailed, and the mari¬ 
time capital was established on a scale, which 
formed a monument of his glory, and at the 
same time afforded the best security for per¬ 
severance in his audaciously boasted policy, 
“Nature has made but one Russia, and she 
must have no rival*.” 

The succeeding sovereigns, till the reign of 
Catherine, with the exception of Elizabeth, 
whose treaties were honorable and war glo¬ 
rious for the character of her armies, al¬ 
though unsuccessful to Russia, did not extend 
his impulsion ; but they laboured to consoli¬ 
date the dominion he had acquired, and com¬ 
merce provided additional means for the ac¬ 
complishment of their views. 

* Vide Peter the Great’s Speech, after the defeat of 
the Swedish fleet near the island of Aland, in the year 
1714. 


a 


Catherine the Second felt all the ardour of 
a conqueror, and inspired her subjects with 
the same sentiments. In an empire where so¬ 
lid education had been always neglected, and 
which Catherine herself sacrificed for more 
attractive accomplishments, the most able min¬ 
isters, and invincible generals, presented them¬ 
selves as by enchantment. 

The Caucasus, the Crimea, the Cossack 
country, Courland, and a great part of Po¬ 
land, were added to her possessions ; yet Su- 
warrow never could bring into the field cm ar¬ 
my of forty thousand effective men. 

The frame of the edifice was immeasurably 
vast; but the interstices, or chasms, were also 
of frightful dimensions. The scaffolding con¬ 
tinued to stand, according to the design of the 
original architect, but an uninterrupted series 
of skilful combinations was necessary to com¬ 
plete the plan, which his genius had traced. 

Poland was a central bulwark ; which, by 
connecting Stockholm and Constantinople, and 
indenting itself into the Russian military 


9 


line of defence, rendered successes obtained, 
still precarious, and a subjugated people, rest¬ 
less subjects. Favourable moments were seiz¬ 
ed. The most important position in Europe 
for her preservation was occupied (two great 
European powers assisting, whilst the others 
remained supine spectators ;) and a warlike 
independent nation, which formed the garri¬ 
son, was partitioned as lawful spoil amongst 
the pretended guardians “ of her safety and 
tranquillity.” 

The wise and liberal policy of Catherine, 
with regard to religious toleration, and the 
maintenance of laws, customs, and language, 
enfeebled the resentment of the people, who 
fell to her lot, and founded in all that pre¬ 
ference for her government, which has given 
to later acts the colour of a voluntary associ¬ 
ation with her empire. 

The real object of Catherine’s ambition 
being Constantinople, she limited her hostili¬ 
ty against France to the issue of a few mani¬ 
festos, some munificent pecuniary presents to 


T) 


10 


the dethroned and expatriated dynasty, and 
the gift of a sword to Monsieur, who, Colonel 
Vauban relates, according to his own and 
Prince Esterhazy’s opinion, “ received it as 
if he was determined never to use it # .” 

Paul, more ingenuous and less of a politi¬ 
cian, carried his promises into execution. 
Thirty-six thousand men, under Suwarrow, 
marched into Italy, where they sustained the 
reputation of their chief: whilst eighteen thou¬ 
sand men landing at the Helder under un¬ 
toward circumstances, depreciated the milita¬ 
ry estimation of Russia below its just stan¬ 
dard. Disappointed and exasperated, Paul 
resolved to coalesce with his former foe, and 
turn his arms against former friends. With 
this view a maritime confederacy was formed, 
and a considerable corps of cavalry w as col¬ 
lecting for the invasion of India, when a dis- 

* Memoires pour servir a l’Histoire de la Guerre de la 
Vendee, par Monsieur le Comte de Vauban, page 24. 
« II a r£cu cette epee comme un homtne cui ne s’en servi* 
ra pas. 7 ’ 


11 


contented nobility and harrassed soldiery in r 
terposed to terminate his reign. 

Paul was violent and capricious ; but his 
enemies say, that 44 although he wanted judg¬ 
ment to shield his country from injury, he had 
too exalted a mind ever to have subscribed to 
her disgrace.” 

His reign was too short for the develop¬ 
ment of the even then exuberant resources 
of his empire ; but it had an important in¬ 
fluence on the European branch of Russian 
policy, by showing, that every part of Eu¬ 
rope was accessible to armies brought from 
the Caucasus and Siberia; whilst his project 
of penetrating through Persia to the Indies, 
rejected as wild and visionary at the time, 
has been gradually and seriously engaging the 
attention of the government and obtaining the 
sanction of those destined to be the executors 
of this enterprise. 

Alexander came to the throne with strong 
predilections in his favour—Real personal good 
qualities had gained the affections of all who 


12 


approached him ; and, as the pupil of La 
Harpe, expectation was raised high as to his 
capacity for government. The “ Telemachus 
of the North” was not then inebriated with 
power, but, instructed in his duties by a Men¬ 
tor endowed with intelligence and virtue, ex¬ 
ercised the authority of a despotic sovereign 
to establish philanthropy as the basis of hie 
throne*. 

An enemy to the costly vanities of some of 
his predecessors, he regulated the expenses 
of his palaces with economy, and applied his 
treasures to the foundation of useful estab¬ 
lishments, the promotion of useful public 
works, the equipment of his arsenals, and the 
augmentation of his army—Temperate, active, 
and indefatigable, he transacted the business 
of government through direct correspondence 
or personal superintendence ; and, familiar 

* Vide the Ukases, respecting the condition of the 
slaves—their non transfer by sale from the land—the abo¬ 
lition of the punishment of death—the rare punishment 
of the knoot, &c. &c. 


13 


> with the statistics, topography, and interests 
of the various people inhabiting his extensive 
empire, he cherished the general prosperity by 
a polity adapted to the wants of each and all . 

Such was Alexander : the same fidelity of 
description shall represent him as he is ; since 
the individual character of an autocrat, whose 
will is the only professed principle of govern- 
ment, must always have paramount influence 
on the measures of his cabinet. 

Alexander had no alternative but to make 
peace with England: it was indeed the impli¬ 
ed condition of his succession. His feelings 
were in unison with his obligations, and he 
profited by the improvement of his finances, 
to bring into action many sources of wealth 
and strength, which had been heretofore un¬ 
employed. 

Notwithstanding a never-ceasing wasteful 
expenditure of men and money on the Persian 
and Moldavian frontiers, his dock-yards were 
constantly adding to his navy, and his depots 
advancing newly-formed battalions. 


11 


Involved, as an ally of Austria, in the disaster 
of the battle of Austerlitz (a battle precipitate¬ 
ly resolved on, and lost, it may be truly said, 
before the combat began, by an injudicious 
flank movement), Alexander himself perhaps 
was the only man of his army, who did not de¬ 
scend the Carpathian mountains despairing to 
retrieve the misfortunes and disgrace of that 
campaign. Exertions were multiplied, accord¬ 
ing to the exigency; and when Napoleon pass¬ 
ed the Rhine to attack Prussia, one hundred and 
twenty thousand Russians were advancing to her 
support. 

The battle of Jena, which in one day over¬ 
threw the Prussian monarchy, and in fourteen 
days advanced the French standards to the 
Vistula, disconcerted the intended operations, 
and threw Russia upon the defensive on her 
own frontier, with only five or six thousand dis¬ 
pirited auxiliaries, which had escaped the 
w reck, instead of the two hundred and forty thou¬ 
sand men, who, a few days previously, had 
been arrayed to co-operate with her. 


is 


The battles of Pultusk, of Eylau, of Heils- 
berg, and Friedland, could not (or rather, in 
one instance , that of Eylau, did not) prevent the 
enemy’s successive approach to the Niemen; 
and Alexander, alarmed at his situation, ac¬ 
cepted the conditions of peace that Napoleon 
offered, and which he not only rendered advan¬ 
tageous to Russia , but embellished with circumstances 
of respect to the sovereign, that soothed the 
feelings of disappointment and defeat. 

The unsuccessful issue of Sir George Duck¬ 
worth’s expedition, and the result of the unau¬ 
thorised movement of the British troops from 
Alexandria on Rosetta (for the enterprize 
against Alexandria itself was undertaken at 
the express suggestion of the Russian cabinet) 
had certainly much chagrined Alexander, and 

o-iven such an accession of force to the Turks, 
© 

as to oblige the march of reinforcements to 
that frontier, when they could not be spared 
without danger to other points of great inter¬ 
est : but the real motive, which disposed him to 
peace, was a conviction, from a short residence 
at the army, that it was too ivcak in numbers , and 


16 


too disorganised , from want of elementary arrange- 
ments, to defend from invasion the provinces 
of Poland incorporated in Russia, where a spi¬ 
rit of insurrection was to be apprehended; 
whilst he knew that the succours, announced 
as on march, were not in existence, and that 
there were not twenty thousand men in reserve 
to cover both his Capitals. 

Peace, which restored a throne to his ally, 
although some of the richest jewels of the 
crown remained in possession of the invader, 
diminished much of the personal regret, which 
Alexander had felt as a man for the issue 
of the Mar—Peace, which gave him a far¬ 
ther portion of Poland, which sanctioned 
his views in Turkey, as far as the Danube, and 
the conquest of the important province of Fin¬ 
land, was favourable to his general policy; but 
peace, which gave him time, and by which he 
was resolved to profit, was, with the experi¬ 
ence which he had acquired of the imperfec¬ 
tions of his military system, of still greater, and. 
as he said himsel f. 44 of the greatest valued 


The attack on Copenhagen, which Alexan¬ 
der always declared to be unjustifiable (as the 
then Crown Prince of Denmark had determin¬ 
ed on maintaining the strictest neutrality, and 
resisting any infraction whatsoever , whether 
from the land or the sea), afforded him the 
pretext for declaring war against England; a 
policy in which he persevered, notwithstanding 
circumstances were recalled to his mind, cal¬ 
culated to deter him from carrying into execu¬ 
tion so unpopular a measure. 

The seizure of Finland was most unjustifi¬ 
able ; but the acquisition was of the same im¬ 
portance to Russia, as Normandy, under En¬ 
glish dominion, would be to France. The 
consequent dethronement of the then reigning 
dynasty in Sweden was never anticipated by 
Alexander, and will always be deplored by 
him, until the injury is compensated either by 
indemnity or restoration. 

Napoleon, having again invaded Austria, to 
punish equivocal negociations, when he was 


embarrassed, after the battle ofEylau*, as well 
as to anticipate hostile arrangements in pro¬ 
gress, summoned Russia as an auxiliary to in¬ 
vade Austria on the side of Gallicia. Her ar¬ 
mies overran that province, and advanced to 
Olmutz, when the Austrian cabinet resolved on 
peace, and agreed to give a pledge of perma¬ 
nent friendship—a pledge, which Russia is be¬ 
lieved to have declined to give after the peace 
of Tilsit. 

Peace again added to the Russian empire 
an extensive and important district of terri¬ 
tory ; and, although it has since been relinquish¬ 
ed, its reoccupation awaits but the convenience 
of the Emperor. 

The defence of Gallicia is as impossible, 
since Russia has the Duchy of Warsaw, six hun¬ 
dred thousand men to act with, and a friendly po¬ 
pulation to march on, as the maintenance of the 
country between the Vistula and the Niemen, 

* Napoleon said to the Austrian general sent to recon¬ 
noitre his force and situation, and who did not arrive until 
after the danger was passed, “ Go back and tell your mas¬ 
ter he is two months too late, I am now ready.” 


19 


now under the Prussian dominion, would prove 
to be, if Russia should ever resolve on its pos¬ 
session, unless Prussia negociated cession and 
indemnity. 

A strong English party continued to exist 
in Russia; and the commercial interest, which 
embraces the interest of a great part of the 
Russian nobility, murmured loudly at the de¬ 
triment occasioned to their fortunes, and there¬ 
fore to the general prosperity of the empire, 
by the English maritime blockade. Still Alex¬ 
ander persisted ; but, bearing in mind the im¬ 
pressions of the campaign on the Vistula, he 
applied himself unremittingly to improve the 
administration of the army, as well as to the in¬ 
crease of its numbers. 

Napoleon, who had expected and hoped the 
Turkish war would have exhausted the treas¬ 
ure and military resources of Russia, or at all 
events have prevented the growth of her dispos¬ 
able force, saw with astonishment and appre¬ 
hension the result of Alexander’s administrative 


measures. 


20 


In three years Russia had lost, of her Molda- 
vain armies, by climate rather than by the 
sword, thirty-six generals, and an hundred and 
twenty thousand men. Still an army of sixty thou¬ 
sand strong, better equipped, organized, and dis¬ 
ciplined than Russia ever before had, and 
which equalled, perhaps exceeded in general 
composition any army in Europe, was stationed 
on the line of the Danube, and occasionally 
blockaded the Turkish army in Schumla (at 
the foot of the Balkan mountains) the rampart 
of Constantinople—a rampart, which a general 
like Napoleon would long since have prostrat¬ 
ed by his genius and kindling spirit of enter- 
prize. 

The Persian war had consumed annually 
from ten to twenty thousand men; but every year 
improved the Russian lines of communication, 
and gradually weakened the Persian frontier. 

Instead of one feeble army to guard the Nie- 
men, one hundred and eighty thousand men were 
formed in three lines to repel any attack, and 
another considerable body of troops was station- 


21 


ed in Finland; all the arsenals were full of stores 
—fifteen hundred pieces of cannon were in the 
field —recruits were training in every province— 
and a militia was instituted through the whole 
empire. 

Napoleon, who had never forgotten the bak 
tie of Eylau, and the martial qualities of a Rus¬ 
sian army, saw the time was come when Russia 
was either to assume that attitude, which was 
the object of his ambition, a settlement in Eu¬ 
rope which from the strategical properties of her 
position and numerous population assured her 
the command of the continent, or, that she was 
to be dislodged, broken, repelled, and reduc¬ 
ed, until she became again little more than an 
Asiatic power. He selected that moment to 
commence his operation, because he feared 
Russia might prevail on the Turks to make 
peace, and that England would acquire more 
influence from her good offices on that occa¬ 
sion; perhaps, also, he had good reason to sus¬ 
pect, that the character of the protracted war 
in Spain was reviving the hostile feelings of un- 


22 


willing allies, and connecting them in alliances 
of reciprocal resistance and support. 

In opposition to the advice of many of his 
best officers and statesmen, he refused to send 
eighty thousand more men to complete the con¬ 
quest of the Peninsula, and disgust the English 
nation with continental wars by a failure of 
hopes so highly excited, and so expensively sup¬ 
ported. He always replied, that it was most 
judicious to leave the English army engaged in 
a country remote from one, where, in his view, 
they might more efficaciously contribute to the 
prejudice of his interests. 

At the head of a confederate army of above 
four hundred thousand men, Napoleon accused 
Alexander of a violation of treaties, and de¬ 
manded their renewal. 

The issue of the campaign is well known; 
but the real history of all the transactions, al¬ 
though so interesting to the statesman, the sob 
dier, the philosopher, and all others who have 


23 


the feelings of humanity, is yet withheld from 
the world. 

Here may it only be put on record, that, not¬ 
withstanding the unexpected conclusion of 
peace between Turkey and Russia, and the im¬ 
probable hostility of Sweden, the gigantic project 
of Napoleon was executed in all those parts which 
opposed , as had been presumed , insurmountable obsta¬ 
cles to his success. 

By the occupation of the line of the Dwina 
and the Dniester, he had rendered the re-esta- 
blishment of Poland an optional measure; and 
his advance on Moscow, which vanity dictated, 
to commemorate the glory of the conquest, was 
an operation, that could have been attended 
with no disaster, or even inconvenience , if political 
speculation had not induced a continuation in 
that capital beyond twenty days. 

There can be no desire to exalt the reputa¬ 
tion of Napoleon, or disparage, if it were possi¬ 
ble for detraction to do so, the valour of the 
heroic army and brave people opposed to him; 


24 


an army, to whose devotion Napoleon himself 
has paid the highest tribute, when he describes 
the battalions, writhing under his fire, “ as un¬ 
willing to go, and yet unable to remainbut 
tire fact is, that from want of energy in the di¬ 
rection of the Russian operations, and a deter¬ 
mination not to make a concentrated and general 
attack on the enemy's line of march, the French 
army would have regained their position on 
the Dwina and Boristhenes, without any se¬ 
rious injury, had it not been for a sudden in¬ 
tense frost, and a total neglect to provide 
horseshoes suitable to the climate, excepting 
for Napoleon’s own horses, which General Cau- 
lincourt saved by the precaution*. 

Once again established on this line, the win¬ 
ter might have been passed in perfect securi¬ 
ty, since Austria would have been awed into 

* During the retreat a ducat, then worth one pound 
sterling, was, with thanks, the price of a single horseshoe, 
even in the Russian army. But the Russian horses in their 
own country are always rough shod, that they may be 
prepared for the frost. 


effective co-operation, and all the resources 
of Poland would have been brought into ac¬ 
tion for the ensuing campaign. 

Never was there any campaign in modern 
history, where each adversary had such fre¬ 
quent opportunities to obtain certain victory , 
and assure total destruction to the attacked, 
without any risk, and scarcely any loss to the 
aggressor. 

Fluctuation of councils, at the instant of 
operation, caused the evacuation of the expen¬ 
sive entrenched camp of Driessa, &c., and the 
relinquishment of the extensive country be¬ 
tween the Niemen and Dnieper, or Boristhe- 
nes, almost without a conflict. 

After the battles of Smolensk, (in which the 
Poles greatly distinguished themselves by their 
daring lodgment in the suburbs), and the volun¬ 
tary evacuation of that city, on which the ene¬ 
my had not made the slightest impression to 
oblige the surrender, nor any movement which 
necessitated the retreat of the supporting army, 
the Russian force, embarrassed in a cross road 


26 


with six hundred pieces of camion and the pas¬ 
sage of a river, had not been able to gain the 
Moscow high road, and deploy out of a nar¬ 
row defile, in which it was moving with diffi¬ 
culty, when a part of the French army, having 
already crossed the river*, approached that 
point or outlet of the pass which alone per¬ 
mitted the debouchementt of the Russian co¬ 
lumn : the duke of Abrantes (Junot) paused, 
when within half a mile, afforded time to the 
Russians to bring up some scattered detach¬ 
ments to the point of dangerf, who maintain- 


* The corps of Bagrathion, having escaped by most ex¬ 
traordinary exertions, and some fortune, from the army 
under Davoust, detached to intercept him, had been sta¬ 
tioned at this passage, and received an order to retire on 
Dorogobusch, without a corps being instructed, as was in*- 
tended, to replace his corps, and cover the operation of 
the oblique march. 

t There is no English military term equally expressive ; 
it signifies, u coming out of the mouth/* 

| The Duke of Wurtemburg, uncle to Alexander, by 
his exertions on this occasion, was thought to have con¬ 
tributed very much to the safety of the Russian army; 
whilst the valour of Prince Eugene of Wurtemburg, his' 
nephew, who commanded a corps, on all occasions added 
to its honour. 


27 


ed the position in spite of all succeeding ef¬ 
forts, and thus lost, as Napoleon truly said, 
“ the most propitious moment of his (the 
Duke’s, and, it may be added, of Napoleon’s) 

life.” 7 

At Borodino, as at Waterloo, lines were op¬ 
posed to lines, man to man, and the appeal 
was made to each individual soldier’s cou¬ 
rage : the issue depended upon the exertion of 
power rather than the delicacy of manoeuvre 
or the caprices of fortune; the example of the 
chiefs, the charge, the storm, the repulse, and 
the stand, were the only tactics; the cross 
fire of cannon the only operations of strate¬ 
gy. But after a retreat, rendered necessary 
by the loss of the battery which commanded 
the whole left and part of the centre of the 
position; after the capture of Moscow, accom¬ 
panied with transactions and events of the 
deepest interest, of which the world is still ig¬ 
norant, when for twelve days the Russian army 
was revolving round the smoking ruins of 
their capital, to regain the Kaluga road, dis¬ 
connected in line of march, embarrassed with 


every possible incumbrance*, and checked by 
every species of impediment; in this situa¬ 
tion, the columns presented a flank to the con¬ 
centrated French army, and offered them an 
infallible victory. 

After the battle of Marioslawitz, so glorious 
to Prince Eugene and his Italian army, with¬ 
out being prejudicial to the honour of the Rus¬ 
sian troops engaged (ibr the grand army, al¬ 
though within three miles at ten in the morning, 
was pertinaciously kept from affording any suc¬ 
cour until four in the afternoon); if Napoleon 
had, on the second day, pushed on his advanced 
guard , instead of making an oblique movement 
to regain the Moscow' and Smolensk road, the 
w hole Russian army, in obedience to its orders 
already given , would have retired behind the 
Oka, and left a rich country, and a secure line 
of march in whatsoever direction Napoleon 
might choose to re-enter Poland. 

* From Smolensk the whole population of the country, 
about to be abandoned by the troops, put their women, 
children, and principal effects in their carts (of which 
each peasant has at least one), and joined the columns, 
adding to the confusion and the wants. The army at last 
became a wandering nation. 


On the other hand, at the battle of Tarruti- 
na, prior to that of Marioslawitz, where Murat 
(as he stated in his report, under the presump¬ 
tion of a tacit suspension of hostilities) allow¬ 
ed himself to be surprised, not a man of his 
army could have escaped, if the operations un¬ 
der General Beningsen, who had pierced five 
points of his line of communication, had been 
supported actively by the sixty thousand men, 
moving in parade order, within cannon shot. 

At Weismar, where, for a long day, Milera- 
dowitch, with one corps, encountered and final¬ 
ly obtained considerable success over three 
corps of the French army, whilst the main 
Russian army was bivouaqued within hearing 
even of the fire of the small arms, and not dis¬ 
tant four hours’ march for infantry—the French 
army might have been ruined. 

At Krasnow, where the Russian army, one 
hundred and ten thousand strong, was posted, 
with a powerful cavalry and artillery, drawn 
up in battle array, and remained quiet specta¬ 
tors of the French army filing along its front 
for twenty-four hours, until almost the re$r 


30 


of its rear guard was retiring*—the war might 
have been terminated. 

Beningsen, Strogonoff, and Gallitzin, indeed, 
when they did commence the attack, did so 
because they would no longer abstain from the 
assault of a position, which had never been 
occupied but by an army without cavalry that 
could leave the roadf—an army without a gun 
that could be drawn, except with the aid of 
men, up the slightest ascent};—and with an in¬ 
fantry, which from want of ammunition was un¬ 
able to engage in a protracted combat; whose 
limbs were already half frozen, and whom fa¬ 
mine had reduced so as to excite the expres¬ 
sive indignation of a Cossack—“ Is it not a 
shame to see these skeletons walking away 
from their graves ?” 

* There had been some partial actions of detached 
corps before the French troops filed into their position, 
but no general operation. 

t It had indeed ceased to be cavalry—the horses could 
scarcely crawl. 

} The road was full of ravines, the sides of which were 
slippery as glass; and in these ravines the French gnfrs 
were abandoned. 


31 


At this memorable Krasnow, where, on the 
third day, Ney fought a combat which, from 
the fury of the attack, and the intrepidity of 
the defence, might be called “the combat of 
heroes'’—from which field the same marshal 
withdrew his gallant remnant, traversing an 
unknown country, passing the Boristhenes, and 
rejoining Napoleon*, notwithstanding the whole 
Russian army had been halted^, and posted to resist 
his column and intercept his retreat —a judicious 
disposition, without relinquishing the pursuit of 
Napoleon’s army, would have rendered the 
capture of the tv hole corps inevitable. 

At the Berezina—where Napoleon, rein¬ 
forced by Oudinot, found only a corps of eigh¬ 
teen thousand men under Tchichagow to guard 
a river line of thirty miles; until Wittgenstein 
arrived to contribute to the disasters which en¬ 
sued, and join in an unremitting pursuit; where 
Tchichagow presented a force by disobeying 

* Napoleon, hearing of the action before Ney appeared, said, 
tl I would give the ten millions in my treasury for his safety.’* 
f An halt, which enabled Napoleon to pass the Boris- 
thenes and Berezina*. 


32 


instructions to proceed on Ingumen* under the 
conviction that Napoleon was moving in that 
direction; where not one soldier of the grand 
Russian army arrived until two days after the 
passage had been effected; here again, as 
on former occasions, if proper use had been 
made of the advantages which superiority of 
the total force, positions, nature, the state of 
the enemy, and the zeal and courage of the Rus¬ 
sian officers and soldiers offered, and which in 
many instances, fortunately for the honour of 
their arms, could not be restrained, not a soli¬ 
tary individual of the whole French army could 
have escaped. 

The Russian army under Kutusow, which, in 
the commencement of the pursuit, had amount¬ 
ed to one hundred and twenty thousand effective 
men, could only array thirty-five thousand # on 
the frontier of the Duchy of Warsaw, to which 
shattered force were opposed more than as 
many comparatively fresh troops under an Aus¬ 
trian general, in a friendly country, and where 

'* There were many companies without a single man , 
and many battalions with not so many as fifty. 


every man was a soldier, exclusive of several 
thousand Poles, who had escaped from the ru¬ 
in of the grand French army, and who alone, 
of all the corps of which that army was com¬ 
posed, conducted back their artillery—a me* 
morial of their discipline as well as courage. 

Wittgenstein’s and Tchichagow’s corps did. 
not amount to twenty-five thousand men; but 
the opportune defection of General Yorke, 
with about fourteen thousand Prussians, left 
them opposed to only the remnant of the 
French army under Murat, and the garrisons 
of the Vistula, which had been largely re* 
inforced by the fugitives from Russia—Dant- 
zic alone containing thirty-five thousand men, 
until fever occasioned the subsequent mortali¬ 
ty, which reduced them to little more than 
ten thousand at the period of the capitulation. 

Murat could and wished to have assembled 
forty thousand men, when, combining his ope¬ 
rations with the Austrians at Warsaw, Rus¬ 
sia must have seen her armies, or rather the 
skeletons of her armies, retrograde to the Nie- 
men. Such had been the destruction, even 


34 


amongst the Russians, that a reinforcement of 
ten thousand men, which had marched for Wil- 
na, arrived only with fifteen hundred; and of 
them seven hundred were next day in the hos¬ 
pitals, or rather the charnel-houses of that 
city*. 

* In the hospitals of Wilna there were left above seven¬ 
teen thousand dead and dying, frozen and freezing. The 
bodies of the former, broken up , served to stop the cavi¬ 
ties in windows, floors, and walls; but in one of the cor- 
ridores of the Great Convent, above fifteen hundred bo¬ 
dies were piled up transversely, as pigs of lead or iron. 
When these were finally removed on sledges to be burnt, 
the most extraordinary figures were presented by the varie¬ 
ty of their attitudes, for none seemed to have been frozen 
in a composed state: each was fixed in the last action of 
his life, in the last direction given to his limbs : even the 
eyes retained the last expression, either of anger, pain, or 
entreaty. In the roads, men were collected round the 
burning ruins of the cottages, which a mad spirit of de¬ 
struction had fired, picking and eating the burnt bodies of 
fellow men; while thousands of horses were moaning in 
agony, with their flesh mangled and hacked to satisfy the 
cravings of a hunger that knew no pity. In many of the 
sheds, men, scarcely alive, had heaped on their frozen bo¬ 
dies human carcases, which, festering by the communica¬ 
tion of animal heat, had mingled the dying and the dead 
in one mass of putrefaction. 


35 


The opinion of Murat was overruled, while 
the Austrian general, to the astonishment and 
disappointment of the inhabitants, by orders 
from Vienna to sign the proposed convention, 
abandoned the duchy and city of Warsaw. 

The Vistula was passed, and the main Rus¬ 
sian army, reduced by farther sickness and ex¬ 
ertion, mustered only eighteen thousand men, 
when the campaign was closed by the occupa¬ 
tion of Kalish. 

The advantage of this campaign to Russia 
was proportionably great to the injury design¬ 
ed by her enemy. Her capital had been con¬ 
sumed, with immense wealth: many of her 
provinces had been laid waste with desolating 
fury; and above two hundred thousand of her 
regular soldiery had perished: but to have de¬ 
veloped the resources of the empire, to have 
electrified the spirit of the people, were copi¬ 
ous and lasting compensations for evils, which 
time and industry would repair. 

Napoleon had been inaccurately informed 
on several points relative to Russia. Hi# 




three principal errors were, a belief—that 
there were no good roads but where the har¬ 
dened snow covered the surface—that cultiva¬ 
tion was neglected—and that her population 
was dispersed. He found, however, as fine 
and indeed broader roads than any in France, 
for the guns could move three abreast with 
considerable intervening space-—the country 
fertilized, and redundant with food of all de¬ 
scriptions—r-and a population in the extensive 
provinces round Moscow condensed, so as at 
least to equal in amount the number of inhabi¬ 
tants in any part of Europe, on the same given 
space of ground! He also saw a peasantry 
better housed, better supplied with fuel, bet¬ 
ter clothed, and, according to their habits, 
better fed than any peasantry on the continent, 
or any of the peasantry of modem England! 
Still there is no doubt of the fact, that a servile 
war might have been fomented in Russia, if 
the discipline of Napoleon’s heterogeneous ar¬ 
my could have been maintained, so as to have 
avoided outrages and insults, which exaspe¬ 
rated and shocked religious prejudices : nor is 
it less true, that, notwithstanding these aliena¬ 
ting causes, Napoleon rejected offers of insur- 


37 


\ 


faction, which were made to him when in 
Moscow. 

Alexander, during this crisis, had display¬ 
ed a degree of firmness, which deranged all 
the calculations of Napoleon and his coadju¬ 
tors. He pledged himself, as a sovereign and a 
man , that he would never treat with Napoleon 
whilst there was an armed enemy in his country; 
and his inflexible firmness rendered nugatory 
those attempts at negotiation,- which are re¬ 
ported not to have received the same discour¬ 
agement in other quarters. 

His views even then embraced the future; 
and an anecdote industriously circulated at a 
subsequent period, relative to the transactions 
at Abo, affords a memorable and splendid 
proof of his prospective policy. 

England and Russia had determined to adopt 
the same line of proceeding with regard to 
Denmark as had occasioned, according to the 
declaration of Alexander, the war between 
those two nations.—Such are the unfixed, and 


38 


it may be said revolutionary principles of ca¬ 
binets ! 

Alexander insisted, that Sweden should be 
indemnified by Norway for Finland, in case 
Denmark refused to join the coalition. 

The English minister, forgetting that Russia, 
by the possession of Aland, Sweaborg, and 
the whole Gulphs of Finland and Bothnia, 
was, in fact, mistress of Stockholm, agreed 
to an annexation, which surrendered a coun¬ 
try, so important for its maritime # resources, 
ports, and position, to the same influence and 
authority. The treaty being signed, Alexander, 
who, as before said, never forgets the uninten¬ 
tional wrong which he did to his nephew, de¬ 
veloped the true object of the arrangement, 
by saying to Bernadotte, “ If Napoleon fails 
in his attack against my empire, and the French 
throne becomes vacant by the result of his de¬ 
feat, I shall think no one so eligible as your¬ 
self for that station.” Important words, which 
serve as a key to explain many of the future 

* It is computed, that Norway furnished ten thousand 
sailors to England. 


39 


mysteries, and which have not yet lost their 
value; although Bernadotte does not enjoy 
equal consideration in the eyes of Russia, 
since he did not acquire the expected suffra¬ 
ges of the French people, and afford the de¬ 
sired opportunity for the re-establishment of 
the ancient dynasty. 

Alexander, after joining the army at Wilna, 
had afforded useful encouragement to personal 
exertions by his own exemplary endurance of 
privations, cold, fatigue, &c.; an example, 
which, added to great affability, produced, 
not only very beneficial effects on the soldiery, 
but which sustained the enthusiasm of the Rus¬ 
sian nation. In the head quarters at Kalish, he 
was equally remarkable for diligence. Couri¬ 
ers, with autograph letters in many instances, 
were dispatched in all directions to bring up 
the recovered wounded and sick, to advance 
the new recruits and medical stores, and to in¬ 
fuse the ardour of the sovereign into every de¬ 
partment of the government. 

The efforts obtained full success: voluntary 
contributions in men and money poured in 


40 


from the nobility; and the whole empire re¬ 
sounded with the huzzas of triumph, hymns of 
thanksgiving, and the Pashol, or march word, 
“ for Poland, and Paris.” 

The Cossacks, enriched with the immense 
booty which their vigilance, activity, and va¬ 
lour, had acquired, streamed from the Don; 
and the oldest veterans, and youngest boys ca¬ 
pable of wielding a lance, were seen daily 
amongst the reinforcements arriving to range 
themselves under the banner of their justly ven* 
erated Hetman. 

The operations of the cabinet were no less 
vigorously conducted, and no less successfully 
accomplished. 

The King of Prussia, who had disclaimed 
the conduct of general Yorke, and who had re¬ 
solved on faithfully adhering to his treaties 
with Napoleon, at last signed the treaty of of¬ 
fensive and defensive alliance with Russia; but 
he acquiesced only an hour before the signature 
was affixed; and only then, under the sugges¬ 
tion, that in case of refusal, it was possible a 


41 


-provisional government might be established in 
his kingdom*. 

In the month of May, an army of about 
eighty thousand Russians, and sixty thousand Prus¬ 
sians, passed thp Elbe, near Wittenberg and 
Dresden. 

Napoleon, who had been no less active and 
energetic, presented himself at Lutzen; where* 
from an injudicious disposition of the cavalry, 
and the want of simultaneous efforts on the 
part of the allies, he gained a sanguinary victo¬ 
ry, which would have ruined their armies, if he 
could have brought any cavalry into the field 
to press the retreatf 

Reinforcements replaced the Russian losses ; 
negotiations offered by Napoleon were reject- 

* Napoleon, who knew this anecdote, and alluded to it 
in one of his bulletins, always spoke of the good faith of 
the King of Prussia with much respect. 

f The Russian rear guard could not pass the Elbe for 
ten days; during which time it was embarrassed with the 
protection of ten thousand four wheeled carriages of every 
description, moving along the same road. 

JT 


42 


cd; and the battle of Bautzen was hazarded, 
contrary to all military science and political 
prudence. * 

The French, by an attack in flank of a sa¬ 
lient position, overpowered the Prussians (who 
fought gallantly), and gained the ground; but 
the retreat, ending in the affair of Reichen- 
bach, w here Du roc w as killed, added to the 
honour of the Russians and the confidence of 
the allies. 

The armistice ensued; and, during the ne¬ 
gotiations, above sixty thousand good troops from 
Odessa, and distant provinces, entered the Rus¬ 
sian camps. 

Austria w r as still unwilling to quit the posi¬ 
tion of arbitrator, and join the coalition, whilst 
the interests of Napoleon required peace to 
dissolve a confederacy, which every day en¬ 
larged and cemented. Pride or destiny pre¬ 
vailed. He w r ould not write even a conciliatory 
note to his father in law , which would have suf¬ 
ficed to prolong the period prescribed for 
the diplomatic answer; and the Austrians 
marched! 


"N 4$ 

A detail of the ensuing military events would 
exceed the limits proposed to this summary 
sketch: but the great incidents and varieties 
of fortune present themselves with too power¬ 
ful an impression, and must have engaged too 
much public curiosity to be passed over with-* 
#ut some notice. 

An attempt made by Marshal Ney with seven¬ 
ty thousand men, to take Berlin, coveted by the 
Swedish and Prussian armies, had been defeat¬ 
ed with great lo^s; while the French troops in 
Silesia, ordered to retrograde on Dresden, had 
been pressed by the allied forces in that direc¬ 
tion, and sustained farther considerable injury 
by the overflow of a river. 

The subsequent operations against Dresden, 
in which above two hundred thousand of the al¬ 
lied troops were employed, had been baffled 
by the activity and judicious audacity of Napo¬ 
leon with eighty thousand men. 

The confederates, driven into the defies of 
the mountains of Bohemia and Saxony, lost 

■ > i 

least forty thousand men in the campaign of 


those few days, and would have been annihi¬ 
lated, as the Russian army might have been af¬ 
ter the battle of Smolensk, without the power 
of formation or resistance even by battalions , if Van- 
damrae could have gained the mouth of the 
defile from which he was at one time distant 
scarcely a league! but which the heroic devo¬ 
tion of Ostreman, with five thousand Russians* 
covered. Vandamme’s perseverance in a false 
position in the plain below the mountain, after 
his original attempt had proved abortive, oc¬ 
casioned his ruin whilst the allied army not 
only obtained preservation and victory, but 


* Even here the vicissitudes of fortune were remarkable. 
r jfhe Prussians having possessed themselves of the height?, 
instead of taking post, descended in Column of march, with 
a great train of artillery. When the allies had broken in 
on Vandamme’s position by various attacks on front and 
flank, the French cavalry desperately resolved to cut their 
way through the Prussians wp the mountain, which was so 
steep, that few horses could, under other circumstances, 
be pressed up in the gentlest trot ; but they ascended with 
so much force and power as to overthrow completely all the 
Prussian column, and acquire possession of every gun be¬ 
longing to it. Of course these remained to the allies final¬ 


ly ; but the greatest part of the horses were taken away, 
and many of the artillery men were massacred. 44 Vie- 
toresque eadunt Danai/* 


confidence, which obliterated the recollection 
of former disasters, and in truth repaired them, 
by permitting the immediate resumption of the 
offensive. 

On the other hand, Napoleon had lost his> 
opportunity to profit by the retreat of the* 
grand allied army, in consequence of an error 
in the order sent Ney, who, instead <&f repair¬ 
ing solely in his ow n person to Dresden, brought 
back his corps several days’ march. 

The subsequent battles, comprised under the 
name of the battle of Leipzig, were the most 
memorable in the history of the war, from the 
number of the troops engaged, the efforts made 
by the w hole, and the magnitude of the prize 
in contest. 

On the 12th the Russians had received a se¬ 
vere check from the French cavalry, gallantly 
headed by Murat, who repeatedly charged 
sword in hand—the first in the advance, and 
the last in the return. 

The combined operations, however, did not 
begin Hntil the 26th. 


46 


On that day the allies were completely re¬ 
pulsed, with the loss of above thirty thousand 
men, and obliged to defer for one day the re¬ 
newal of the battle, that they might receive a 
reinforcement of fijty thousand men from the 
neighbourhood of Dresden. 

Napoleon, in the interval, by the capture of 
General ^Merveidt, had become acquainted 
with the long negotiated defection of Bavaria, 
the union of an Austrian corps with a Bavarian 
army, and their intended descent upon his line 
of communication near Hanau. 

He instantly ordered a retreat , and sent back 
General Merveidt, with offers of peace, which 
General Merveidt brought (as the allied troops 
w e re marching to attack on the morning of the 
18th), with the farther information , that the retro¬ 
grade movement was already in execution , and that 
the French army had withdrawn from the 
ground of former contest to concentrate and 
cover Leipzig, whilst the reserve artillery and 
stores w ere filing on the Saal and Erfurt. The 
intelligence was confirmed by successive re¬ 
ports from various commanders, and the check 


47 


of a body of Austrians posted on that line 
of communication. The result, therefore, of 
the proposed movements, and the object of 
the campaign, was thus already secured: but the 
allies sought to profit by the necessity of the 
enemy; and the enemy had no other alterna¬ 
tive than to fight, not for the usual rewards of 
victory, but self-preservatioa. 

One hundred and eighty thousand men, with 
more than one thousand pieces of cannon, assail¬ 
ed the position defended by one hundred and 
twenty thousand adversaries: but notwithstanding 
the defection of the Saxon army during the bat¬ 
tle, and the most ardent and persevering cou¬ 
rage of the allied troops, not a village could be. 
wrested from the enemy , which he had. proposed to 
maintain as an essential point of his position , 

The fall of night closed the action, leaving 
the defenders of Probstheyue the glory of hav¬ 
ing inspired their enemies with a generous envy. 

But whilst the presence of Napoleon had ob¬ 
tained so much honour and safety tor the main 
French army, the united Swedish and Prussian 


Armies, who had defeated three dorps under 
Marmont at Radefeld on the 14 th, had obtain¬ 
ed farther success, and opened a direct com¬ 
munication with the grand allied army; so that 
the position of Leipzig momentarily became 
more critical. 

The allies, who in the several actions had al¬ 
together lost not less than sixty thousand men, 
did not propose to renew the combat on the 
ensuing morning, but to make a movement across 
the Elster, so as to intercept the retreat of 
those corps which might remain in positions on 
the right bank, whilst another corps pursued 
the columns which had passed, and thus assist* 
ed the operation of the Bavarian^. 

It was found, however, that the French 
troops had been retreating the whole night, 
and that the rear guard was withdrawn into 
Leipzig—a place capable of resisting a ccrnp 
rfo main , 

Napoleon, with his thoughts constantly fixed 
en the Bavarian movement, whose fatal opera¬ 
tive power he knew well how to appreciate 


49 


hail urged the unremitting retreat of his troops, 
superintending himself its execution, until near¬ 
ly twelve o’clock in the day, when he left the 
city, and only a few minutes before the Cos¬ 
sacks had rounded the walls, and appeared on 
the plain between them and the river Pleisse. 

Napoleon had directed three bridges to be 
thrown over this river, which was narrow but 
deep, with banks difficult to ascend; but this 
instruction had not been obeyed, and the troops 
were obliged to file across one —the only one 
existing; which caused great delay and corn- 
fusion, as the press increased by the approach*- 
ing fire. 

Some Cossacks had first approached the su¬ 
burbs, which had also been fortified: then some 
light infantry crawled on without positive in¬ 
structions : others followed, as there was 
scarcely any resistance; and at last column# 
advanced with cannon to force an entrance. 

When Napoleon quitted the town, the King 
of Saxony, w ho had been left, at his own re¬ 
quest, sent to the allied sovereigns an offer to 

i 


50 


deliver up the city; such of his troops as had 
not deserted, and those of Weimar and Baden, 
remaining in the square with reversed arms, to 
await the entrance of the allies. 

In the city the French had abandoned all 
their wounded and sick; but the whole army 
had safely passed the Elster, except the rear 
guard of about eight thousand men, when the be¬ 
fore mentioned party of Cossacks, having sw ept 
round the town, appeared in the plain on the 
other side: the officer* charged with the de¬ 
struction of the bridge to prevent pursuit after 
the passage of the French army, alarmed, and 
panic struck, fired the combustibles, and thus 
those, who had not gained the left bank of the 
stream w ere cut off from communication with 
their columns—Part perished in an attempt to 
swim across; and amongst these the generous, 
brave and patriotic Foniatowski. Others were 
shot, but the greater portion were made pri¬ 
soners. 

The allied sovereigns soon afterwards en¬ 
tered the grand square of Leipzig. The King 
of Saxony, being constituted a prisoner in a 


51 


house, at the windows of which he had for a 
moment appeared to witness the triumphant en¬ 
try and assemblage of his royal brothers, and 
experience the mortification of indifference to 
his presence. 

The Crown Prince of Sweden and Alexander 
here, for the first time, met, since the confer¬ 
ences at Abo. 

Alexander still felt the same political dispo¬ 
sitions in his favour; but many circumstances 
had occurred to diminish his popularity with 
the coalition. 

A treaty, which gave Sweden twelve hundred 
thousand pounds per annum of British money, 
and the assurance of Norway, was a great temp¬ 
tation for the government of that country to 
abandon her connexion with Franee; but, on 
the other hand, it established a right to great 
exertion and liberal services. It was thought 
the Crown Prince had, since the operations 
commenced, economised his troops too much ; 
and, when he justified his cautious employment 
of Swedes by the observation 44 if he lost his ar* 


52 


my, which could not be recruited, he lost his 
throne,” that he reasoned as Bernadette, and 
not as the leader of a subsidized force. 

The fact is, that Bernadotte had placed him¬ 
self in a false position, when fighting to destroy 
those troops, by whose services he had acquired 
his honours and fortune ; and that every dead, 
wounded, or captive Frenchman, on whom he 
cast his eyes, was an image of reproach, to 
which he could not avoid being sensible. 

The sovereigns, probably with pleasure, saw 
him remove to act against the north of Germa¬ 
ny ; and his departure might have been acce¬ 
lerated by the impression, that monarchs in 
prosperity do not view with an eye of favour, 
in the royal circle, elected heirs to hereditary 
thrones. 

Napoleon, with great rapidity, proceeded to 
gain the Rhine, that he might anticipate the 
lodgment of the Bavarian general W rede on 
the route, of whose movements he received 
continued adv ice. Wrede, however, had reach¬ 
ed Manau with about thirty thousand men, includ¬ 
ing Frimont’s corps. 


53 


False information, as to the state of the 
French retreating army, and the belief that it 
was closely pressed by the grand allied army # * 
added to ardent feelings, induced a rash ad¬ 
vance, which ended in a retrograde movement 
for concentration in a too condensed and not 
sufficiently examined position. 

Napoleon knew the value of time, and the 
power of daring enterprize. His cavalry and 
artillery executed his orders with the requisite 
promptitude and courage. The confederate 
army was routed, fifteen thousand were killed or 
wounded; and, with some analogy to the battle 
of Culm, the fugitives marched in the step of 
victory. 

'* Every exertion had been made by Schwartzenberg, but 
it was not possible to pursue with more rapidity, from the 
want of provisions. Schwartzenberg, the commander in 
chief, directed himself all the movements, and there is no of> 
ficerin Europe better qualified for the conduct of a great 
army. To great activity and courage he joins superior know¬ 
ledge of those duties of a leader, which assure order in com¬ 
binations, and accuracy in dispositions. To this capacity 
he added a mildness and patience of temper, which made 
him greatly beloved in the army, and which preserved union 
amongst the allies. Without him there might have been, 
more than once, serious dissensions, 


54 


Napoleon, however, could not resume the of¬ 
fensive. He was obliged, after leaving a rear 
guard at Hockheim, from which it was soon af¬ 
terwards driven, to throw his troops into the for¬ 
tresses of Franee; where, from youth and over¬ 
strained exertion, fevers were introduced, and 
multitudes perished. 

Napoleon, when ignorant of the Bavarian de¬ 
fection and operation, had proposed to main¬ 
tain his positions on the Elbe, and had left St. 
Cyr in Dresden with nearly thirty thousand men 
to fall on the flank and rear of the confederate 
army advancing to Leipzig. On quitting Leip¬ 
zig, Napoleon entertained the hope, that St. Cyr 
would gain early intelligence of his retreat, 
evacuate Dresden, and, by passing down the 
right bank of the Elbe, and uniting the garri¬ 
sons of Torgau, Wittenberg, &c. # , with the 
troops under Davoust, would have formed an 
army of nearly one hundred thousand men, partly 

* Perhaps releasing the garrisons on the Oder, which 
might have been done, and from which he would have with¬ 
drawn about twelve thousand men, even Berlin was open t© 
a coup de main. 


covered by Magdeburgh, sustained by Den¬ 
mark, and generally masters of positions, which 
would have been not only impregnable, but 
must have so completely awed Prussia and Sax¬ 
ony as to have paralyzed all the projected ope¬ 
rations of the allies, and afforded him time for 
the renovation of his army. 

The opportunity was presented, but, per¬ 
haps from inaccurate or too tardy information, 
lost; and, at last, St Cyr, considering the com¬ 
position of his garrison, in which there was an 
extraordinary number of officers, conceived, 
that he should best advance the interests of his 
sovereign and country by agreeing to a capitu¬ 
lation, on the condition “ of a free passage to 
France for the whole.” 

The motives, which influenced General St. 
Cyr, were, however, exactly those, which ren¬ 
dered the terms inadmissible for the interests of 
the allied sovereigns, although the general in 
command of the blockading army, Kleinau, had 
agreed to* them, and the evacuation of the city had 
commenced on the faith of his alleged full powers and 
signature . St. Cyr was offered to be replaced 


§6 


with his garrison in Dresden; but it was as im¬ 
possible to restore him to all the advantages of 
his former position, as it would be to indemnify 
a person accused, by a new trial, after the nur¬ 
ture of his defence had been exposed. 

St. Cyr, therefore, having protested “ against 
this violation of faith and military honour,” was 
marched with his garrison as prisoners of war 
into Austria; whilst Kleinau was sent to be tri¬ 
ed by the council of war at Vienna, by whom 
he was most honourably acquitted. 

Nearly a similar proceeding occurred at 
Dantzic about the same time, where, after a 
siege creditable to the respective forces, a ca¬ 
pitulation between General Rapp* and the 
Duke of Wurtemburg—officers who would ra¬ 
ther have hewn off their own hands than affixed 
a signature to deceive, and who could not sus¬ 
pect the measure adopted—was annulled. 

* General Rapp has, on all occasions, acquired great dis¬ 
tinction ; and he is one of those commanders, who always 
knew how to conciliate public esteem with the discharge of 
his military duty. 


37 

Alexander, although not the nominal command - 
tr in chief of the allies, exercised great influ¬ 
ence, and received the principal homage of the 
Germans; to which the popularity of his man¬ 
ners very materially contributed. 

During the march, he was constantly at the 
head of his troops, and forgot no occasion for 
their instruction. But his attention was not li¬ 
mited to military discipline. Objects beneficial 
to Russia were his constant research. Every 
artist, every manufacturer, every mechanic, 
who presented himself, with powers of utility* 
was immediately engaged; and persons were 
constantly employed to discover men and things 
worthy his notice. 

Negotiations were proposed at Frankfort.— 
The interference of England, assisted with 
some advices from Paris as to the state of that 
capital, rendered them cold on the part of the 
allies; and, perhaps, they were never sincere 
on that of Napoleon. 

The invasion of France was proposed 4 . 


K 


58 


Austria agreed, if Murat joined the coalition, 
and thus removed uneasiness for Vienna from 
the side of Italy. Alexander assented, if Swit¬ 
zerland sanctioned the operation, by granting the 
passage of the Rhine through her territory. 

Confidential officers were sent to reconnoitre, 
and according to their report the suitable pre¬ 
parations were made. 

Some thousand infantry having passed in si¬ 
lence, and the dead of night, were received 
with open arms; notwithstanding the Diet had, 
only a few days before, determined to defend 
the neutrality of their country against all par¬ 
ties. 

Compulsive alliances must always be subject 
to the vicissitudes of war. The cold support 
of Austria when Napoleon was entangled in the 
difficulties of his Russian campaign, the defec¬ 
tion of General Yorke, the desertion of the Sax¬ 
ons, even the conduct of Bavaria, were all pro¬ 
bable events from adequate causes, or not with¬ 
out precedent in history; but that a free peo¬ 
ple (the descendants of William Tell,) enjoying 


59 


their independent neutrality, allowed to preserve 
it, and in a position to maintain it, should aban¬ 
don, yield, or negotiate away a right so impor¬ 
tant for their country, and so solemnly declared 
to be inviolable, was only to be conceived by 
those who hold, that public virtue is but an 
Utopian theory*. 

France, confiding in the ramparts of Swiss 
neutrality, had always neglected to fortify the 
opposing frontier: she was, therefore, quite un¬ 
covered on that side. 

Austria, having received assurances of Mu¬ 
rat’s co-operation, and further encouragement 
from the capital of Franee, pushed forwards to¬ 
wards Paris; whilst the Prussians, &c., forced 

# Switzerland has introduced the torture into some of her 
cantons, and appears to be in the aristocratic government 
exactly what Gibbon described in his day, when using the 
language of the ambassador of Porsenna :— 

Qu’il vant mieux qu’un roi sur le trone affirme 
Commande a ses sujets malheureux, mais, soumis 
Que d’avoir a dompter au sien de I’abondance 
n’un peuple trop heureux l’indocile arrogance. 


60 


the passage of the Rhine, near Manheim, and 
advanced on Nancy. 

The transactions of those days are familiar 
to the public recollection ; and the more they 
are examined, after all party feeling has sub¬ 
sided, when no prejudices, or no partialities' 
mislead the judgment or control the inquiry, 
the more will they add to the reputation of Na¬ 
poleon as a Great Captain. 

With sixty thousand brave and indefatigable 
men, he baffled the operations of two hundred 
thousand for more than six weeks; obtained vic¬ 
tories, which obliged Alexander to seek the 
Austrian commander in his bed, at four o’clock 
in the morning, “ to desire he would instantly 
expedite a courier to Chatillon with orders for 
the signature of the treaty of peace, as agreed 
to by the French negotiator,” until he heard, 
unfortunately for his master, Napoleon, of those 
very successes, which made the Emperor of 
Austria , w r ith one nobleman , and one servant , % 
in a German droska , for safety to Dijon, and re¬ 
main there thirty hours virtually a prisoner , and 
strictly one, if any Frenchman had done his 


61 


duty*—victories, which threw the allied army, 
then only one hundred and twenty thousand strong, 
with the sovereigns, between the city of Paris 
and his cannon, without any line of communication 
with the Rhine , or any intermediate magazines , &c., 
without any ammunition , and without any stores , 
except such as were in movement with the army 
itself—victories, which screwed them, as it 
were, in a vice, from which, if defection had 
not extricated them, they were unable to secure 
their escape, and yet obliged to make the at¬ 
tempt. 

The measures, which it was believed had 
been long in preparation, were consummated 
at the very instant Napoleon’s success seemed 
beyond the power of misfortune! and the move¬ 
ment on St Dizier, which merited empire , lost 
him his crown. 

Ten thousand men of the allies had been kill¬ 
ed or wounded in the attack on Montmartre, 
chiefly from the artillery served by the boys of 
the polytechnic school. The acquisition of 

* Metternich joined him with some flying secretaries 
next day. 


62 


this post assured only the destruction of build¬ 
ings, if the experiment of bombardment had 
been made. The army was too weak and too 
ill provided, to attempt a forcible occupation 
of the city*, which must have expended so ma¬ 
ny men and so much ammunition , as to have ren¬ 
dered the possession untenable, when Napole¬ 
on approached with his army to its relief; and 
the sallying force too weak to hazard battle in 
the open field. 

Such was the conviction on the minds of 
those charged with the conduct of the allied ar¬ 
my, that a retreat ivas already resolved on , in case 
the promised co-operation in the city had not 
been accomplished. 

The departure of the Empress, in consequence 
of peremptory orders from Napoleon, shown 

* There were no less than fifty thousand regular sol¬ 
diers and national guards, exclusive of numbers of dis¬ 
persed soldiers, and inhabitants who had served, who 
would all have assisted the defence. The national guards 
would, indeed, have fought with MarmonPs corps; in which 
case Montmartre would not have been lost: but their zeal 
was controlled; and Paris became the grave of French 
honour. 


63 


her by Joseph Buonaparte, was fatal to his dy¬ 
nasty. 

Talleyrand, on being asked to name the go¬ 
vernment and governor most agreeable to the 
French senate and people , answered, “ A constitu¬ 
tional monarchy, and Louis.” 

Alexander had for some time been obliged 
to relinquish the proposed arrangements in fa¬ 
vour of Bernadotte, who had loitered at Liege, 
and who, in fact, had done too much for his 
character in Franee, and too little for his interests 
with the allies*. 

* Nevertheless, England was true to her engagement, 
nay, to the constructive spirit of it; for she employed her 
fleet, the fleet of a free people, in blockading the Norwe¬ 
gian ports, to compel a reluctant nation, by famine , to re¬ 
ceive the yoke ; although that nation only required neu¬ 
trality from England, that she might negotiate or fight for 
her independence. The Swedish government seems to have 
acted towards the Norwegians, when obliged to capitulate, 
with great liberality and good sense : but this conduct 
does not affect the question of the right of England to 
make over a nation to another power, because its own go¬ 
vernment refused to break its neutrality • nor does it miti¬ 
gate the reproach of England, for employing her arms in 
such a service. 


04 


Alexander, "personally, as it was believed, 
ill-disposed to the Bourbon family, reluctantly 
acquiesced in the proposition. The King of 
Prussia did not object; but Schwartzenberg, 
for a few instants was silent, and Talleyrand 
was uneasy if not alarmed. Schwartzenberg, 
however, probably unwilling to charge him¬ 
self with the responsibility of a refusal (his sove¬ 
reign and Metternich being absent), did not 
finally withhold his assent: and thus, by two 
foreign sovereigns, a foreign marshal, and an ex - 
minister, was Louis chosen —King of France !— 
legitimate pretensions , and the subsequently al¬ 
leged right and title to the throne, not in the re¬ 
motest degree influencing that choice. 

The defection of Mannont, accompanied 
with the contingent events, terminated the 
war; and Napoleon, still an emperor, pro¬ 
ceeded to his asylum, overthrown but not over¬ 
come. 

Alexander, who had been ambitious at Cha- 
tillon to stipulate for the entrance of some bat¬ 
talions of his guards into Paris, that he might 
in some degree balance parades at the ThuiUe- 


ries against those of the Kremlin, and whose 
anxiety on this point had been one of the real 
obstacles to the conclusion of peace, now saw 
himself in possession of the French capital , the 
creator of its new monarchy, and the arbiter of 
its destinies! 

Gratified in his vanities, but not intoxicated 
by his successes, he sought after and acquired 
by his policy and mildness, the affections of all 
parties. To the Royalists he was the guardian 
of the royal dynasty —to the JYapoleonists he was 
the preserver of the integrity of France, and 
to the Constitutionalists he was the champion of a 
liberal government. But in this moment of tri¬ 
umph he never forgot Russia, and added largely 
to former importations for the advancement of 
the arts, science, and industry in that country*. 

The negotiations of Paris regulated the points 

* The enemies of Alexander seek to involve him in the 
mysterious transactions of Maubreuil, which occurred at 
this time. Pozzo di Borgo ought to insist on having a copy 
of the depositions, and on the proceedings being made 
public. Calumny and malevolence are busy, and ought t# 
be exposed. 


66 


issue with France, and left the fate of Na¬ 
ples, Saxony, and Poland to be settled at Con¬ 
gress ; whilst the allotment of Belgium, and the 
destiny of the kingdom of Italy, were defini¬ 
tively arranged, although not officially pro¬ 
mulgated. 

The Emperor of Austria had always de¬ 
clared, that he would never reoccupy the Mi¬ 
lanese states, in any event of the war; but 
Alexander, resolved on the acquisition of the 
Duchy of Warsaw, insisted on Austria’s taking 
to herself those provinces, as compensating ag¬ 
grandizements; thus the kingdom of Italy, whose 
independence had so often been guaranteed by 
these very powers, in their treaties with Napo¬ 
leon, and w hose moral regeneration had been 
commensurate with its political growth, was 
again reduced to a provincial dependence*. 

# Alexander had at that time determined to make him¬ 
self King of Poland, and recommended the Emperor of 
Austria to preserve the Italian monarchy , and wear the iron 
crown; but the Emperor refused, as he was afraid to keep 
alive the recollections of independence. But the debarka¬ 
tion of Napoleon in 1815, forced acquiescence in a mea¬ 
sure, which the Italians had much at heart. 


67 


It may be said, that the kingdom of Italy 
was a fief to Napoleon—it was so, but not to 
Franee. The two crowns, after his decease, 
were never to be placed on the same head. 

Who does not mourn over the fortunes of 
this country, so favoured by nature—so deso¬ 
lated by man ? Who sees the wreck of her 
institutions and national establishments, with¬ 
out giving honour to their founder, and without 
lamenting her dismemberment ? 

Napoleon took away some statues and pic¬ 
tures, the greater part of which were obscured 
(if it were possible in that fine climate to ob¬ 
scure any thing), in gloomy abodes of super¬ 
stition ; but these, at all events, were the super¬ 
fluous ornaments of a country, for which he sub¬ 
stituted wise laws, national feelings, state views, 
high military character, stupendous and useful 
works, industrious habits, as well as a munifi¬ 
cent encouragement of the arts and sciences. 

Whatever may be said of his government in 
Frapce, of his usurpations in Europe, and ol mar 


68 


ny other transactions in his life*, he must and 
always will be remembered by Italy with af¬ 
fection. 

Had he, as he might have done (notwith¬ 
standing France was unwilling), but formed 
one great independent Italy \, or a federative system 
of states , his w ork would have been immortal, 

# The proposition to administer opium to men infected 
with plague, he has defended on a plea of humanity—death 
being inevitable, and previous outrage from the Turks no 
less certain. The execution of the garrison of Jaffa he 
justifies by the laws of war—and says, that those he doom¬ 
ed to suffer had violated their engagement at El Arish, not 
to bear arms again, until exchanged. The death of the 
Duke d’Enghieri he laments, but asserts that he was direct¬ 
ing the conspiracy of Pichegru and Georges; and that the 
letter which this unfortunate prince wrote was not deliver¬ 
ed until several days after the tragical event, or he would 
have spared his life. 

Motives, no doubt, may determine the character of such 
acts—our Fifth Henry preserves his reputation unsullied. 
These transactions, however, have nothing to do with the 
merits or demerits of his general political administration, 
nor can they be cited to justify wrong on the part of those 
who professed to correct wrong. “ Perfidia perfidiam ultus, 
contra Romanam dignitatem, Barbaros ilnitabatur. ,, 

f By establishing the seat of government at Rome, and 
placing the Pope at Venice; or by uniting the spiritual and 


69 


and his fame imperishable in the gratitude of 
mankind. 

The Italian army had in no way contributed 
to the disasters of their country. 

Successive advantages had enabled them to 
advance beyond Villack, on the Drave, distant 
about one hundred and fifty miles from Vienna; 
which capital was covered by a force so insig¬ 
nificant, that even, on the 27th of August, the 
main body could only muster nine battalions 
and eight squadrons for the protection of all 
Lower Austria! 

The disasters of Napoleon having uncovered 
Switzerland, and the defection of Bavaria hav¬ 
ing opened the passage of the Tyrol, a retreat 
on the Adige became necessary. 

The intervening conflicts had been numerous 

temporal authority, making priests citizms y and allowing 
them to marry, with some other suitable regulations, which 
Napoleon might have accomplished with as much ease as 
he removed the Pope from the Vatican, on which service a 
Corporal’s guard was the whole force employed. 


70 


and bloody, but the movements had never been 
precipitated into disorder by any defeat. 

On the Adige, Prince Eugene refused the 
offers of the allies, and replied, “ the more Na¬ 
poleon is unfortunate, the more devoted shall 
be my zeal in his service.” 

The movements of Murat, who felt himself 
in a different situation from the Viceroy, and 
whose throne had been menaced by Napoleon, 
obliged Eugene to fall back on the Mincio, 
where he occupied the strongest military line 
of frontier in Europe—a line running along the 
river Mincio, which, taking its source from the 
lake Di-Guarda, falls into the Po, after a course 
of twenty-eight English miles, at Governolo; but 
the country between Mantua and that point be¬ 
ing impracticable for the movements of troops, 
on account of its deep land, the line is in fact 
reduced to the distance between Mantua and 
Peschiera, a space of only sixteen miles, with 
the farther advantage, for the power of ma¬ 
noeuvre, of its left being distant from Verona, 
only ten miles, and its right seventeen ,• 


71 


The fortresses of Mantua, and the fortified 
tetes du ponts of Peschiera, Monzambano, Goito, 
and Governolo, afforded secure passage at five 
points ; whilst the heights of Volta, nearly in 
the centre , added a base for defence, and ena¬ 
bled movements to be made without observa¬ 
tion. 

The rear of the right flank was covered by 
the Po, on which a fortified tete du pout had 
been established; and Placentia had been con¬ 
verted into a strong place d^armes . 

The Italian army, and the French corps un¬ 
der Grenier, amounted to about forty-jive thou¬ 
sand men, applicable to operations on the Min- 
cio ; but the real disposable force, without the 
aid of the garrisons on that line, did not exceed 
thirty-six thousand , 

On the other hand, the Austrian army, weak¬ 
ened by being obliged to mask Venice, Legna- 
go, and other fortresses to the rear, and to post 
corps of observation against Mantua, Peschi¬ 
era, &c., as well as in the mountains of the lake 


72 


Di-Guarda # , was still farther enfeebled by thir¬ 
ty-five thousand sick, so that it could not bring 
into the field more than thirty-six thousand men, 
unless Murat effectually co-operated ; and this, 
Murat felt it would be imprudent to do, until 
he had received the long promised autograph 
letter of the Emperor of Austria , guaranteeing his 
treaty , when the regular official instrument could be 
prepared. 

Bellegarde, urged by repeated representa¬ 
tions from sovereigns, ministers, and generals, 
to advance, and gain possession of the Alps, 
where there was a reserve of eight thousand 
French, in Turin, Fenestrelles, &c., exclusive 
of the garrison of Genoa, and a force at Alex- 
andriaf, made his dispositions for the passage 
of the Mincio at Valleggio. 

It had been presumed, that the Italian army, 
leaving garrisons in Mantua and Peschiera, 
would retreat; but although the passage of the 

* The Austria ^Italian army had also to supply the 
troops acting in Dalmatia. 

t The troops retreating from the Roman and Tuscan 
states assembled at these points. 


73 


river was not seriously defended, it was soon 
perceived, that the resistance at the village 
of Mon San Bano was more determined than 
that of a rear guard; and some anxiety was 
therefore directed towards Mantua. 

All the troops destined to pass at Valleggio 
had crossed, except a brigade ; and the grena¬ 
diers, who had been ordered to observe Man¬ 
tua, were about to effect their passage also, at 
a point where the bridge had been already 
constructed, when the enemy, sallying from 
Mantua with eighteen thousand men, attacked 
with great fury the Austrian troops stationed 
on all the points of observation, and drove 
them back several miles. 

The guns had no sooner been heard at Val¬ 
leggio, than the battalions awaiting passage 
were sent to reinforce those attacked ; but 
they did not arrive to their support until the 
enemy’s columns had advanced within a mile 
and a half of Valleggio, and the bridge , on which 
the safety of the whole army depended ; nor 
could troops be withdrawn from the right bank 
until near four o’clock in the evening, when 

M 


74 


tlie enemy, in their turn, began to retire, and 
were finally repulsed. 

If Eugene, who had ably concealed his de¬ 
sign, had but delayed his operation one more 
hour, he would have been inevitably in pos¬ 
session of the line of the Mincio, and the 
Austrian army would have been thrown, with¬ 
out any ammunition, except such as was al¬ 
ready with the troops across the river, and 
without any base or communication, into a 
hostile country, encircled by rivers, fortresses, 
and Alps, and exposed to the attacks of a 
greatly superior force. 

If, indeed, the Austrian troops, and espe¬ 
cially the grenadiers, had not shown the most 
devoted zeal and courage, the operation of 
Eugene would have succeeded ; for no troops 
ever fought with more ardour than the united 
Italians and French did on that occasion. 

The Austrians, maimed by a loss of jive 
thousand men, and a daily encreasing sick list, 
were obliged to remain on the defensive*, 

* There was an affair oil the Mincio the succeeding day. 


I 


75 


until Murat and Lord William Bentinck (just 
landed in Tuscany) had settled their misun¬ 
derstandings, and the autograph letter had been 
at last delivered, when a new plan of offen¬ 
sive operations was concerted. 

General Nugent, with a detached corps, 
had previously received a severe check at 
Parma. The support of the Neapolitans had 
however obliged the enemy to fall back again 
on the Po, with loss. 

Lord William Bentinck, having conducted 
his operations against Genoa with skill and 
gallantry, favoured by the friendly service of 
the inhabitants, in a country where their hostility 
would have been ruinous , occupied that city, and, 
remembering what Xenophon says, “ that it is 
a great and excellent thing for every man, 
but especially generals, to be just, and to be 
so accounted in their faith and promises,” he 
proclaimed the independence of this republic, 
which lived a day but to feel the pain of death 
more bitterly. 

but it was one of no importance on the campaign, although 
many lives were lost. 


76 


The account being received of the capture 
of Paris, and the abdication of Napoleon, 
Beliegarde suspended his movement, and sent 
to demand the submission of the Viceroy. 

Eugene, finding farther opposition vain, 
agreed to a convention, which allowed the 
Austrians to pass to the Alps, but did not per¬ 
mit them to enter any fortress, or the capital 
of the kingdom . 

An insurrection, however, having broken 
out in Milan, which was attended with the 
massacre of the French minister of finance, and 
assurances being given, that the Austrian 
commander would take no political measure, 
until the allied sovereigns at Paris had de¬ 
cided the fate of Italy, Eugene agreed to an 
additional article , which surrendered the whole 
country into the hands of the Austrians, as 
trustees for the allies—an act of deviation 
from Eugene’s original policy, which perhaps 
he has since repented; for it certainly facili¬ 
tated the partition of the kingdom. 


77 


Eugene had at one moment resolved to 
throw himself, with the archives, the officers 
of state, and twenty-five thousand men (which 
force still remained disposable after the recal 
of the French troops by the provisional go¬ 
vernment of France) into Mantua. In this po¬ 
sition, which would have required the esta¬ 
blishment of fifty thousand Austrians in a 
marshy, unhealthy country, whilst the Italian 
flag still flying at Venice, &c., would have 
added to the embarrassment of the allies, 
Eugene conceived, that he might negotiate 
with success, or add dignity to his fall; but 
reflecting, that Napoleon had abdicated the 
crown of Italy as well as that of France , and 
that the sovereigns of Europe were assem¬ 
bled with power to regulate Europe accord¬ 
ing to the professed principles, which had 
engaged the popular feeling of all countries in 
a common cause, he was fearful to compro¬ 
mise the interests of the nation he governed in 
trust, by a measure indicative of suspicion, and 
therefore calculated to exasperate the allies; 
while malevolence would have charged him 
with motives of personal ambition. 


73 


The purest integrity, and a high sense of 
honour, seem to have characterized all the 
transactions of this brave man’s life. He was 
placed in difficult situations, but he never 
sought to preserve popularity at the expense 
of his benefactor. His fidelity was proved to 
be incorruptible, and his courage on all occa¬ 
sions has been so exemplary, that envy herself 
has never disputed his title to the honours of 
the Chevalier, u sans pair et sans reprocheP 

Alexander, having completed his objects, 
passed over to England, that he might ee a 
country so worthy to engage all his atte n. 
It is said, that some untoward circumsta; 3, 
some inconsiderate expressions repeated a d 
probably exaggerated, some usages of society, 
did not conciliate his good will. T ot a pro¬ 
ceeding at Guildhall, where he was ot aged to 
stand up in homage to “ Rule Britanre a,” and 
which certainly was not very good taste in the 
presence of a sovereign guest, who had eighty 
sail of the line, and great maritime ambition, 
had occasioned some disgust; but it is most 
certain, that he left England with feelings of 
acknowledgment for the hospitality of his re- 


79 


eeption—with admiration of the beauty, the 
accomplishments, and manners of her women-— 
with veneration for some of her principal 
men—with great respect for her people—and 
in wonder at her institutions, and those gene¬ 
rally diffused comforts, which were the great 
characteristics of this country ; but which, 
alas! are now hourly disappearing. 

Alexander, on his return to the Continent, 
redoubled his exertions for the re-equipment 
and encrease of his army ; exertions which, 
in the succeeding year, arrayed three hundred 
thousand men in column of march, with tivo 
thousand pieces of cannon, their tumbrils, &c., 
all new from his arsenals. 

His senate had decreed him the title of 
“ the Blessed ,” and would have paid him pro- 
dbably divine honours, if he had shown any 
disposition to receive them; but his education 
and observation had taught him that these 
titular distinctions could add no consequence 
to real power : even the English garter had 
been accepted only under a sense of due cour¬ 
tesy, and on the condition of one of his own 
orders being received in exchange. 


80 


There had been some discontent at his long 
absence from Russia: but this was soothed; 
and he appeared at the Congress of Vienna 
rather as the Autocrat of Europe than co-sove¬ 
reign of its independent states. 

The discussions respecting Saxony were 
animated and intricate. Prussia required the 
whole : Russia was willing to assist that pre¬ 
tension, as it enabled her to obtain farther 
aggrandizements. England at first was of the 
same vote ; but not for the same object. She 
hoped the alliance between Russia and Prus¬ 
sia was one only of sovereigns, therefore disso¬ 
luble ; and she proposed to make Prussia the 
tete du pont , or advanced work of her continent¬ 
al policy. 

A discussion in the British parliament, where 
the rights of an independent kingdom were 
powerfully advocated, caused a change of in¬ 
struction to the British minister* ; and, not¬ 
withstanding the reproach of Prussia, England 

* Whitbread ! Horner J Names inscribed on that sa^ 
cred tablet, which even another Sylla w r ould reverence, 
and spare the living for the sake of the dead ! 


joined with France and Austria to preserve 
the monarchy of Saxony, but did not oppose 
a partial dismemberment of this unfortunate 
country, which has always been the victim of 
the strongest power. An arrangement was 
consequently made, which dissatisfied all par¬ 
ties, &nd which, by consent of most parties, 
cannot endure. 

Poland engaged the most serious negotia¬ 
tions. England is reproached, amongst va¬ 
rious projects, for having proposed a more 
equal partition, that the very hope of reunion 
as a monarchy might be extinguished ! Alex¬ 
ander, urged by the Poles themselves as well 
as by his general views, inflexibly demanded 
the crown, and promised a constitutional go - 
vernment! 

Naples urged the ratification of her treaties 
Under Joachim—France and Sicily resisted— 
Russia was willing to sacrifice Murat, for the 
acquiescence of France with her Polish ar¬ 
rangements—Prussia was friendly to the per¬ 
son of Murat, from recollections at Tilsit, but 
under circumstances was obliged to remain 


82 


neuter—Austria, forgetting the obligations of 
her engagements, and of services received, 
wavered, in the hopes of ultimately acquiring 
Naples for herself; one of the principal and 
indeed essential objects of her policy for the 
preservation of her Italian dominions—Eng¬ 
land, from hatred of all the branches of Na¬ 
poleon’s family, and in opposition to her real 
interests, established a secret tribunal for the 
trial and condemnation of a sovereign, who 
had reposed implicit confidence in her good 
faith; and whose vacillations, which now form¬ 
ed the matter of the charges against him, had 
originated, not with himself but in the equi¬ 
vocal character of proceedings, which mani¬ 
fested and created suspicion. 

The whole story is, however, so well and 
accurately told, in the history of that mo¬ 
narch’s fall, by Count Macironi, that any 
abridgement w ould w eaken the interest; but it 
is impossible for any mind, not depraved by 
political animosity, to read the narrative with¬ 
out the conviction being impressed, that Mu¬ 
rat’s treatment, by all parties, had been most 
unjustifiable ; and, that the catastrophe, which 


83 


consummated his misfortunes, was an act of— 
coward cruelty . 

The attempts to violate the treaty between 
Commodore Campbell and the Queen of Na¬ 
ples have not yet been exposed to the world; 
but, although that brave and loyal officer is not 
alive to vindicate his honour and that of his 
country, the documents are in existence, and 
will one day assure justice to his memory. 

Whilst the congress was reconstructing Eu¬ 
rope—not according to rights , natural affiances , 
language , habits , or laws ; but by tables of finance , 
which divided and subdivided her population 
into souls , demi-souls* , and even fractions , accord¬ 
ing to a scale of the direct duties or taxes, 
which could be levied by the acquiring state— 
the festivities of victory were not suspended; 
but, if Alexander whirled, after the fashion of 
his country, in the circling dance, his head 
never lost its equipoise, his revelry never en¬ 
croached on his hours of business, nor did his 
amusements divert his mind from more grave 
occupations. 

* The words on the protocol are ames , demi-ames, &c. 


84 


Napoleon was, however, destined to surprise 
more than one merry making, in peace and in 
war! 

The news of his debarkation terminated all 
intrigues, and all points in dispute. 

The infraction of an extorted treaty, which 
the allies themselves had vitiated by breaking 
many of its stipulations, and menacing the vio¬ 
lation of its principal conditions (although that 
inten ion is now denied), was declared in the 
instant of panic to be a delinquency, which 
superseded all divine and human laws; eject¬ 
ing the malefactor out of the pale of social 
protection, and subjecting him to the pains and 
penalties of the Roman proscription. 

What sovereign is there, who may not have 
been accused by another sovereign as an un¬ 
justifiable disturber of the public peace ? What 
sovereign has not rendered himself amenable 
to the action of this outlawry, if Napoleon be 
criminal in the eye of the law of nations ? 


85 


To proclaim impunity for the destruction of 
any man is to urge the use of the dagger ; muck 
less indeed, the u mere winking of authority,” 
is sufficient to instigate the crime. 

(i It is the curse of kings to he attended 
By slaves that take their humour for a warrant, 

And break into the bloody house of life.*’ 

Alexander hastened his armies forward. 
They arrived too late to engage in the military 
operations of a few days’ campaign; but one 
hundred and twenty thousand men, subsequently 
reviewed at the camp of Virtu, astonished the 
assembled staff of the other armies of Europe 
by an uniformity of excellence, never before 
witnessed in such a large body of troops. Each 
battalion seemed a chosen one, and yet there 
was no preference. All were pares et similes . 

Napoleon, after a triumphant march, had 
arrived at Paris. The most expressive ac¬ 
count, and true history of that enterprise, is to 
be found in General Cambronne’s replies, when 
put on his trial, on the 26th of April, 1816. 

44 These are the orders which were given me 


86 


by the Emperor: 4 Cambronne # ! I give you 
the command of my advanced guard, in my 
finest campaign! You will not fire a single 
musket! Everywhere you will only find friends! 
Remember, that I go to resume my crown with¬ 
out shedding a single drop of blood P ” 

On being asked for his farther orders, the 
General proceeded : 64 All my orders were re¬ 
duced to this; Go, sleep there—breakfast 
there—dine there—and there’s allt!” 

Louis was driven from the throne, which, in 
truth, without the return of Napoleon had been 
drawn from under him by himself J ;—for the 
charter , through which he had held it, had been 
broken in every article by outrages alarming 
the interests of many and the feelings of all. 


* Cambronne ! Je vons confie Pavant garde de ma plus 
belle campagne. Vous ne tennez pas un seul coup de fusil. 
Partant vous ne trouverez que des amis. Songez que je 
veux ceprendre ma couronne sans repandre une seule goutte 
de sang. 

t Allez, couchez la—dejeunez la—dinez la—et voila 
tout. 

| If Napohon had not returned , there would have been a 
revolution / The fact is indisputable. 


87 


As a place of refuge, England was the first 
object; but a courier from thence directed his 
course through Lisle; and at length he found 
shelter for himself and the crown jewels in Ghent, 
until the Duke d’Angouleme engaged by capitu¬ 
lation to procure the surrender of that state 
property. 

Napoleon wished to advance into the Ne¬ 
therlands without delay ; but, persuaded to re¬ 
main in Paris and negotiate, he lost the occa¬ 
sion to profit by the diversion of Murat, and 
the inadequate force of the allies then in the 
Low Countries. 

Betrayed to his enemies from the hour of his 
arrival by clandestine communications—oppos¬ 
ed in all his measures for electrifying public 
spirit, and organizing the defence of the coun¬ 
try ; he also alienated from his interests, by the 
acte additionel , the constitutional party, whose 
influence was most extensive and predominant. 

The pride of the allied sovereigns refused 
to acknowledge him, after the proceedings at 
Vienna; but, if he had then abdicated in favour 


S8 

of his son , or established a republic , in either case 
the coalition would have separated.* 

With a too hastily composed force of one 
hundred and forty thousand disposable men, he 
preferred to conquer his recognition. 

His arrangements were so well made, that 
he obtained all the advantages of a surprise. 
Victorious over the Prussians, he would, on 
the same day, have gained a success decisive 
of the fate of Belgium, if the corps destined 
to support Ney had not been withdrawn to 
join the grand army, without orders , from a mis¬ 
taken zeal of the cornmander, who conceived* 
by the weight and continuation of the cannon¬ 
ade, that Napoleon stood in need of succour. 

The battle of Waterloo, fought with only 
eighty thousand men, and the loss of which may 
be attributed to the non-arrival of Grouchy 
with thirty-six thousand —-to the revivifying pow¬ 
ers of the Prussians—and the obstinate va¬ 
lour of the English army, annihilated all hi# 
military projects and political negotiations. 

* The royalists will exclaim no ; but it is, nevertheless, 


true. 


89 


The Sovereign returned to his capital to di¬ 
rect measures, which might repair the dis¬ 
aster ; hut instead of alighting at the senate 
house, and communicating in person the fatal 
intelligence, of which he was himself the her¬ 
ald—instead of addressing the feelings of men 
animated by a sense of national honour and 
patriotism—in an evil moment for his fortunes, 
he repaired to his palace, retired to a bath, 
and then sent for Davoust, to whom, on pre¬ 
senting himself, he said, “ I have lost a bat¬ 
tle, and must have three hundred thousand men 
and more money to preserve Franee from in¬ 
vasion.” Davoust replied, he could have 
neither, and communicated to him the tem¬ 
per of the chambers, which rumours of his 
misfortune had rendered more hostile and un¬ 
manageable. He received the intelligence 
without any expression of violence. Shortly 
afterwards, it was communicated to him, that 
he must abdicate in favour of his son ; and a 
correspondence was shown him , which induced 
him to believe, that some of the allied powers 
would be content with that act, and respect 
the order of succession, which, in case of death 
or abdication , guaranteed the throne to his offspring. 

Q 


90 


Dissatisfied with the opposition which hacl 
* been made to his measures since his arrival 
at Paris—conscious that he was betrayed by 
those, whom he w^as obliged to employ, and 
to w hom he had said, 44 You think to get rid 
of me and survive ; but remember, if I perish , 
you are the next victims, and then France ”— 
and anxious to secure the throne to his dynas¬ 
ty, he acquiesced, and retired to Malmaison, 
where he spent his time with the members of 
his family and in the circle of a few friends. 

He was not how ever indifferent to the mili¬ 
tary or political crisis, which every hour be¬ 
came more imminent; and, y when he found 
the remnant of the allied armies, which had 
fought at Waterloo, advancing on the capital, 
without awaiting any co-operation or reinforce¬ 
ments, he sent to the provisional government, 
offering 44 to put himself at the head of the 
considerable force then collected for the de¬ 
fence of Paris, and, profiting by the false 
movement of his enemy, obtain a victory (of 
which he felt certain), and time for the issue 
of the negotiations with the allied sovereigns.” 
He added, 44 that he would act only as a gene- 


n 


ral ; and engage to retire from the command 
at the orders of the provisional government.” 

The fear however of his reassuming the im¬ 
perial authority, if success again restored to 
him the attachment of the public (for the 
troops never for a moment felt any relaxa¬ 
tion of their devotion), but ill disposed some 
to his proposition ; whilst the engagements 
already entered into by others with a part of 
the allies, induced a total and immediate re¬ 
jection of his services—a rejection, which, he 
persists in saying to this day, u entailed on 
France all her subsequent misfortunes ; whilst 
this movement on Paris, which from its rash¬ 
ness should have ruined the allies, consumma¬ 
ted their triumph, and gave them for a second 
time possession of the capital*.” 

The Greek theologians opened the gates of 
Byzantium to the professors of the Koran, by 
discussing controversial points of the Chris- 

* Napoleon perhaps was not aware, that the movement 
of the allies was regulated by political arrangements in 

Paris. 


tian religion, instead of arraying and aiming 
the population against the invader. The con¬ 
stitutionalists were no less accessary to the sub¬ 
jugation of their country. The King had scarce¬ 
ly any friends—not one who would encounter 
any danger for him, as experience had prov¬ 
ed—Napoleon had a considerable proportion 
of the people, and all the army in his fa vour ; 
but the constitutionalists had acquired the 
ascendancy in the chambers, and had great 
support throughout the whole of France. 
Their intentions were honest; but confidence 
in the promises of an invader is folly unpardon¬ 
able in any guardians of public safety : and their 
conduct in checking the national enthusiasm, 
and finally suffering their only shield to be re¬ 
moved, when France so uncovered could pre¬ 
sent but a naked body at the breach, was in¬ 
sanity inflicted by destiny for the accomplish¬ 
ment of her course. 

Napoleon, finding the armies of the allies 
approach, and the wish being frequently re¬ 
peated, that he should withdraw, determined 
at last on his journey ; but not until the Prus¬ 
sians had approached so near, that it had 


93 


been found necessary to burn the bridge of 
Malmaison*. 

Napoleon, with Count Bertrand, departed 
at three o’clock in the afternoon on the 29th of 
June. He appeared to quit Malmaison with 
great regret. The image of the Empress Jo¬ 
sephine had never been weakened in his re¬ 
collections. 

The suite followed by different routes, and 
the rendezvous was at Niort. Such was the 
secrecy observed, that the postmasters, and 
even the postillions, who had driven Napo¬ 
leon, refused to tell the road he had taken ; 
and one of his officers could not rejoin him 
until two days after his arrival at Rochfort. 
Still, as the imperial arms had only been 
slightly painted over, the sun and dust repro¬ 
duced them ; so that he was recognized along 
the whole road, when all the national guards 
and constituted authorities crowded to otfer 
their homage, as if he had not abdicated. 

* For farther interesting and accurate information on 
the subject of Napoleon’s abdication, see Hobhouse’s Let¬ 
ters from Paris. 


u 

At Poictiers, the son of Madame Bertrand 
being taken for the young Emperor , his name 
being Napoleon, the crowd collected in such 
numbers from all quarters, and the cries of 
devotion to his cause were so strong, that Ma¬ 
dame Bertrand, then travelling under the 
name of Dillon, could with difficulty with¬ 
draw her child before break of day. 

Guards of hussars and chasseurs a cheval 
accompanied the carriages from Niort, and 
additional precautions were taken, in conse¬ 
quence of the neighbourhood of the road to 
La Vendee; but these apprehensions were 
not warranted, for the same enthusiasm ex¬ 
isted here as everywhere else on his journey, 
and many of the towns and hamlets on the 
road as far as Rochfort were even illuminated. 

Here Napoleon deliberated, whether he 
should allow his frigates to force a passage 
for him through the British blockading squa¬ 
dron, as their captains had gallantly volun¬ 
teered to attempt—whether he should embark 
clandestinely for America—a vessel being 
ready to receive him (and wjiich in fact sail - 


95 


ed without observation )—or whether he should 
surrender himself into the power of a nation, 
whose generosity he hoped to find equal to 
her greatness. He did not anticipate, or 
seek, as the Indian monarch, to he treated 
“ like a kingbut he did not expect the 
refuge of a prison in a country, which he had 
been taught to regard as the sanctuary of 
liberty. 

Negotiations commenced, and ended as is 
known ; but to the last moment he was on 
the shore he continued to experience the con¬ 
solation, which the expression of attachment 
offers to misfortune. 

In Captain Maitland, Napoleon had the 
good fortune to find an officer, who knew how 
to combine his duty with good feeling and 
good taste*—an officer, whose high sense of 
honour and generosity was subsequently af¬ 
forded an occasion for its exercise, in a cor¬ 
respondence which will hereafter redound to 
the credit of himself and his country, without, 

* The same eulogiums were passed by Napoleon on 
Admiral Hotham, on arriving at Portsmouth. 


96 


it is to be hoped (and subsequent circumstaiv 
ces authorise the presumption), affixing any im¬ 
putation on its government. 

On a rock in the centre of the ocean Na¬ 
poleon is now, according to unprejudiced re¬ 
ports, contemplating adversity with the equa¬ 
nimity of a philosopher, and encountering his 
mortifications with a dignity of mind, which 
even his most bitter enemies must admire. 

His abdication having been only given on 
conditions which have not been fulfilled, he 
cannot, as an emperor, feel the tranquillity 
which attended Charles in the cloister, nor 
that attachment to retirement, which enabled 
Dioclesian to reply to the solicitations of 
Maximilian for the resumption of the purple, 
“ If I could but show him the cabbages, which 
my own hands planted at Salona, he would 
no longer urge me to relinquish the en¬ 
joyment of happiness for the pursuit of pow¬ 
er but although he may be ambitious of 
the redemption of his glory, and the trans¬ 
mission of the sceptre into the hands of his 
son, he appears not to regret the lost osten- 


97 


iations of royalty, or to be insensible to the 
comforts of a private condition, if he could 
enjoy its independence and security. 

The allied sovereigns certainly possessed 
the respect and confidence of the French na¬ 
tion, even at that time. This confidence had 
paralysed the national exertion, and now left 
France to the mercy of the invaders. Still 
the spirit was high in Paris, and the means 
of defence sufficient against that part of the 
allied army which was then approaching; but 
the public ardour was suppressed, and the 
arms withheld from the Federes , whose increas¬ 
ing impatience to obtain them rendered the 
situation of persons suspected to be in the 
interest of the Bourbons very perilous. 

Couriers were dispatched to urge the ad¬ 
vance of the allied generals, that a popular 
insurrection might be prevented. 

Davoust unwillingly agreed to the subse¬ 
quent convention, in virtue of which the 
French army evacuated the city. 


p 


98 


The arrival of Alexander was hourly ex¬ 
pected. It was known that he would not 
force Louis on the French people, but take 
the sense of the chambers on the government 
to be established. INot a moment was to be 
lost. Forms were no longer maintainable, 
without risk to the interests ol the new object, 
and new term , legitimacy ! Guards were mount¬ 
ed at the Thuilleries, and senate houses; 
whilst the doors were closed, and bayonets pre¬ 
sented to the breast of deputies , who insisted on 
entrance*. 

When Alexander arrived, he found Louis 
in possession, and submitted to necessity, with 
the expression of those courtesies, which 
veiled from public observation his feeling ol 
disappointment. 

Alexander, however, was not the Alexander 
of the year 1814. The French acknowledged, 
that he resisted the dismemberment of France: 
that he did not directly sanction the plunder of 


* One hundred and forty deputies, whose names are in 
the author’s possession, protested against this violence. 


99 


the Louvre , and the removal of the horses be¬ 
longing to the no longer existing republic of Venice ! 
that he remonstrated against the excesses of 
the Prussians and interposed his good offices 
for the people: but although his policy 
sought their favour, he no longer appeared to 
countenance or cherish those liberal princi¬ 
ples, that zeal for popular or constitutional 
rights, of which a short time past he had been 
the advocate and the champion ! 

He saw the French nation, bound hand and 
foot, delivered over to the prisons and scaf¬ 
folds of a vindictive government. 

Notwithstanding his manifestoes, his pro¬ 
clamations, and his pledges, he permitted the 
convention of Paris to be violated : and to that 
violation was not he a party, who had made 
himself one of the guarantees of the treaty, 
by not protesting against any, and profiting 
by many of its enactments ? 

So much has been said/ and written about 
this convention, that the case is familiar to the 
public; but it is a transaction which deeply 


100 


affects the character of the allies ami the inte* 
rests of posterity; and it is much to be ieared 
may one day entail a terrible retaliation ! 

Much sophistry and subtlety of argument 
has been used to evade the precise stipulations 
of the twelfth and fifteenth articles*. 

* “Art. xii. Seront pareillement respectees les per- 
sonnes et les proprieties parliculieres; les habitans, et m 
general, tous les individus qui se trouvent dans la capitate , 
continueront a jouir de leurs droits et libertes, sans pouvoir 
etre inquietes ni rec.herches en ricn, relativement aux fonc- 
tions qu’ils occupent ou auraient occupees, a leur conduite, 
et a leurs opinions politiques.” 

44 Art. xv. S’il survient des difficulties sur ^execution de 
quelqu’un des articles de la presente Convention, l’inter- 
pretation en sera faite en faveur de Varmee Frcmgaise et 
de la mile de Paris.” 

Official Translation. 

44 Art. xii. Private persons and property shall be equally 
respected. The inhabitants, and, in general , all indivi¬ 
duals , who shall be in the capital, shall continue to enjoy 
their rights and liberties, without being disturbed or called 
to account, either as to the situations which they hold or 
may have held, or as to their conduct or political opinions. 

Art. xv. If difficulties arise in the execution of any 
ope of tiie articles of the present Convention, the interpre- 


101 


The Royalists of France say, the king was 
no party; and that a king cannot be bound 
by the arrangements or promises of foreign 
generals, that he should not administer his own 
laws: but a convention, according to all the 
writers on the laws of nations, and the usages 
of war, is binding on those who sign and on 
those who benefit by the instrument; for no 
party in law 7 can select the advantage, and 
then reject the inconvenience by denial of par- 

tation of it shall be made in favour of the French anny 
and of the city of Paris. 

Labedoyere, Ney, Lavalette, Mouton Duvernet, and 
others, were not only inhabitants, but peers exercising their 
functions. The two former withdrew some days after the 
entrance of the king at the intreaty of persons, who knew 
the royal intention not to respect the convention. Lava¬ 
lette, confiding in his innocence , walked to the prison gates 
and surrendered himself, when the lists of proscription 
were published. 

The French commissioners and Davoust swore at Ney*s 
trial they intended to cover, by the twelfth article, all 
persons whatsoever, remaining in Paris, from the persecu¬ 
tion of any government, which might be restored or esta¬ 
blished ; and scouted the notion of their having proposed 
to secure them from the allies, who had no right , and 
could have no inclination, to punish political opinions or 
conduct. 


102 


ticipation in the contract. Count Macironi, 
however, says, and his assertion has never 
been contradicted, that Talleyrand, the mi¬ 
nister of Louis , was present on the morning ot 
the 4th of July, when the Duke of Wellington, 
Sir Charles Stuart, and Pozzo di Borgo were 
assembled in council; and that Talleyrand, turn¬ 
ing to the DuJce , requested him to read to the 
Count the capitulation they had just concluded . 

It was, however, of no consequence to the 
people of Paris whether the king agreed or 
not. The allied commanders had guaranteed their 
safety against all persecutions for political opinions 
and conduct; and, it remonstrance failed, they 
were bound to protect them by force of arms ! 
Europe was also obliged to support these 
measures, and maintain the plighted faith, as 
much and even more than she was to avenge 
political injuries. 

An English nobleman, whose acquaintance 
with the public laws of nations and the duties 
of honour is commensurate with his natural be¬ 
nevolence, when writing on that subject, to 
produce a decision in unison with his sense ©f 
justice, observed:— 

; ! jJ 


103 


<; What is passing at Paris distresses me 
more than I can describe—for Lavalette, on 
the score of private acquaintance, though 
slight, I am much concerned; but from regard 
to the character of our country, I have con¬ 
ceived more horror at the trials and executions 
going on in the teeth of our capitulation than 
mere humanity could create. How can it be 
asserted that the impunity for political conduct 
extends only to impunity from the allies for 
offences committed against them? Where 
ships strike—where garrisons surrender—do 
the captains or commanders stipulate, that the 
foreign conqueror shall not molest their former 
political exertions ? With or without such sti¬ 
pulations, what shadow of right has a foreign 
enemy to punish individuals for opinions held 
or conduct pursued in their own country ? 

“ It is clear, the impunity promised was im¬ 
punity for crimes, real or supposed, against a 
French government. If the French govern¬ 
ment was a party to that promise, by that pro¬ 
mise it must abide. If not, the other allies are 
bound in honour not to deliver over a town 
taken in virtue of it, without exacting the 


104 


same terms from those to whom they deli¬ 
ver it. 

44 Had we taken Martinique in 1793 or 1794 , 
on a promise of not molesting individuals for 
political operations or conduct, should we have 
been at liberty to cede it, had Louis XVIII. 
been then restored, without insisting on the im¬ 
punity of all political offences; or, at the very 
least, on the right of leaving the country for 
such as might have so offended? 

44 In Egypt, the French stipulated, that no 
persons should be molested for their conduct 
or opinions during the war. We took military 
possession of tlte country on those terms, and 
delivered it over to the political authority of 
the Ottoman Porte. When, however, the Cap¬ 
tain Pacha acting under that authority began 
murdering the Beys, and proceeding against 
the adherents of the French, we not only re¬ 
monstrated and threatened, but we actually 
protected the persecuted men within our lines” 
(and* Lord Hutchinson marched the British 
army in line of battle, with loaded guns, on 


* Observation of the Author. 


105 


the Pacha’s camp, giving to the Captain Pacha, 
but five minutes to surrender the living and the 
dead in his possession ) # . “ What would have 
been done by the English commander in Spain, 
if the troops had surrendered any town to the 
French with a similar stipulation; and if, on 
the flimsy and hypocritical subterfuge of a dis¬ 
tinction between king Joseph’s Spanish go¬ 
vernment and the French military authorities, 
all the Spaniards, who had assisted us during 
the siege, had been prosecuted for treason 
against Joseph ?” 

Again, in another letter, an illustrious advo¬ 
cate of justice remarks, on the subject of the 
fifteenth article. “ Observe Lord Bathurst’s 
Letter, and couple it with the article, which 
stipulates, that any doubts shall be construed, 
in favour of the army and the inhabitants of 
Paris. Now there was a doubt, not only in the 
minds of both interested and impartial men, 
but in the minds of the Prince Regent and Lord 
Bathurst; a doubt so strong as to make the 
former hesitate in ratifying or approving the 
capitulation. 

* Sir Sidney Smith had already consecrated in Egypt and 
Arabia the good faith of England. 

Q 


1015 


“ It is true, that one of the contracting par¬ 
ties solved that doubt, and the capitulation was 
ratified ■; but how was it solved ? Not by say¬ 
ing the words were cletir , but that the intention 
was unquestionable ; and, by saying that, not to 
the public, not to Paris, not to the French, but to 
Lord Bathurst and the Prince. But what signi¬ 
fies intentions when there is an express article 
saying, that if doubts arise on the text they 
shall be construed in favour of the people of 
Paris . Doubts arising, or expressions liable 
to doubt being used, are in these eases the 
same thing. Such words were used in this 
Convention, by the recorded admission, nay by 
the suggestion of the British Government; and 
yet, when an officer of the army, and an inhabi¬ 
tant of Paris, says, 4 the article is doubtful, give 
me the advantages of the favourable interpreta¬ 
tion you, who have yourself expressed the 
doubt, answer , 4 there was none in my intention ,’ 
which is nothing to the point, and there could 
not be in your expectation, which is still less to 
the point. The question is* Is the article sus¬ 
ceptible of the most favourable interpretation ? If 
so, Ney and the French have a right to the be¬ 
nefit of it, and Lord Bathurst has recorded the 


107 


Prince Regent’s apprehension, that is, his doubt , 
that it may admit of such a construction.” 

Another nobleman, whose virtues adorn his 
country, and whose eloquence appals its do¬ 
mestic enemies, wrote at the same time, and 
urged similar arguments (but the extracts cited, 
technically and substantially , embrace all the sub¬ 
ject) ; and whilst the sentiments do honour to 
the individuals, and in some measure redeem 
the character of England, they augment regret, 
that men, who could so feel, had not the power 
to decide a question affecting the security of 
the whole civilized world. 

When might did not make right —when fun¬ 
damental laws were not suspended, because 
the accused had committed no offence amena¬ 
ble to law —the arguments of the publicist would 
engage much attention; but now they are put 
on record only as a protest against the imita¬ 
tion of a pernicious precedent. 

Louis had declared in the senate, that he 
was resolved to remain and die on his throne ; 
but a precipitate change of intention, as the 


danger approached, had determined him to fly; 
and such was the hurry of his departure, that 
every paper was left in the Thuilleries. 

Napoleon instantly ordered the private cor¬ 
respondence to be burnt, that all fear of pu¬ 
nishment or persecution might be removed ! 
But amongst the public documents, he found the 
Memorandum of a treaty projected between 
France and Austria adverse to Russia; which 
he communicated to Alexander. 

Alexander was satisfied with making some 
slight reproaches for this ingratitude, but in¬ 
sisted on an unequivocal pledge of better faith. 

Richlieu, who had been for many years a 
Russian governor at Odessa, of which city he 
may indeed be called the creator, and where 
his name is held in esteem, was nominated 
prime minister; and thus Russia not only ba¬ 
lanced the influence of England, but obtained 
an ascendancy in the French cabinet . 

The use, however, that Richlieu made of the 
name and authority of the allied powers in his 


109 


discourse to the chamber of peers, when he 
ventured to declare “ that, in the name of all 
Europe (the sovereigns and armies of Europe 
then being in possession of Paris), he came 
there to conjure and require them to judge Mar¬ 
shal Ney,” for an instant hazarded the displea¬ 
sure of Alexander, who found, that although he 
could confide in the friendly dispositions, he 
could not trust the discretion or moderation of 
his former servant*. 

Alexander, profiting by the intemperate and 
injudicious conduct of his allies, endeavoured 
again to ingratiate himself with the French 
people. His armies maintained a strict disci¬ 
pline. His proclamations, abandoning contri¬ 
butions, and distributing largesses to the inha¬ 
bitants, who had suffered by the passage of the 
allied troops, were circulated with industry ; 
and his avowed opposition to the designs of 
Austria, Prussia, and Holland, for the dismem¬ 
berment of France, obtained him many parti- 
zans : but the French nation, the sport and the 

* The allied ministers,, to their credit, gave in notes of 
strong remonstrance against this indecorous attempt to in¬ 
fluence judicial proceedings. 


110 


victim of so many vicissitudes of fortune, and 
so many despotisms, required constitutional se¬ 
curity, and a system of government, which 
would restore and preserve the action of laws 
consonant with public liberty. 

The breach of solemn promises, notwith¬ 
standing the wreck occasioned by their viola¬ 
tion, might have been pardoned, if the violence 
had not continued to the extinction of indepen¬ 
dence, and the infraction of all representative 
rights*. 


It was in vain for Alexander to multiply his 
boons, and profess his sympathy for the suffer¬ 
ings of the French people. They were no long¬ 
er the dupes of words. They saw him sanc¬ 
tioning the executions and the proscriptions, 
which a weak and cruel government was un¬ 
able to perpetrate, ivithout the presence of the 
allied armies . They saw France subjugated, 
as Spain had already been, to the yoke of de¬ 
spotism and superstition, without any remon¬ 
strance from the deliverers of Europe ; and they 
viewed Alexander but as a member of that con- 

* Acknowledged the succeeding year by the king himself, 
in a royal ordinance. 


Ill 


federacy, which has at length converted this 
quarter of the globe into one common prison, 
where innocence can command no safety, and 
misfortune find no inviolable asylum—a confe¬ 
deracy, which seems to propose by inquisitions, 
standing armies, censors, prevotal courts, po¬ 
lice ministers, spies, informers, proscriptions, 
alien bills, laws of suspicion and suspension, to 
extinguish the spirit of liberty in each hemi¬ 
sphere, and brutalize mankind. 

A detail of the intrigues, diplomatic jea¬ 
lousies, and collisions, which characterized the 
under plot of the conspiracy, would be interest¬ 
ing, but disgusting—the development must be 
left for other times. 

Alexander, having accomplished all his de¬ 
signs, and maintained a supremacy which the 
rival powers did not dare to dispute, quitted 
Franee to review his armies, visit Prussia, re¬ 
ceive the homage of Poland, and return to his 
capital, there to conciliate a growing discon¬ 
tent at his absence, and repair the mischiefs, 
which it had occasioned to private interests 
and to various branches of the public service. 


The Nobles thought he was becoming a fo¬ 
reigner^ and they required a Russian monarch ; 
but these were only the ill-humours of a day ; 
the glory acquired to the Russian name , and the 
vast increase of power added to her sceptre, 
ensured him the applause and allegiance of a 
cl ass enamoured of autocracy, elated with glo¬ 
ry, and ambitious of national aggrandizement. 

Alexander, how r ever, did not trust to forcd 
alone for the prosecution of his future designs, 
or the maintenance of his ascendancy. He 
knew, that family alliances, at variance with na¬ 
tional policy, would never preserve permanent, 
influence; but he also was sensible that, when 
they were made in unison with it, they were 
additional securities, monitors, and guards. 

The marriage, which would have united 
England and Holland , was alw ays conceived, by 
the continental statesmen, calculated to involve 
Europe in wars against natural interests, and 
the negotiations from the commencement were 
viewed with great and unconcealed jealousy. 


m 

The presumed alliance was no sooner brok¬ 
en off, than Russia directed her attention to 
the advantages which she might derive from a 
family interest being established on the throne 
of Holland. 

Her fleets, shut up in the Baltic half the 
year by the seasons, were (especially since 
the destruction of the Swedish and Danish 
navies) costly superfluities rather than an use¬ 
ful establishment adding to her importance or 
assisting her interests. The waters of the 
Texel and the Scheldt would afford powers of 
navigation, administering to all immediate ob¬ 
jects, and contributive to more remote designs. 

Holland, as a maritime state, could not be 
injured by a maritime auxiliary, over whose 
fleets she was the guardian; and the alliance 
with Russia assured that military support, which 
she required for the preservation of her con¬ 
tinental possessions. 

To Russia, Holland was a tete du pont , of 
advanced work, which awed France, and which 
aided the control over Prussia* To Holland* 

k 


in 


Russia was a protecting ally against both those 
powers, with a spear and a shield to defend 
her from England. 

Reciprocal benefits, so unequivocal and so 
considerable, were apparent to both parties; 
and the Grand Duchess Anne, who might, it is 
believed, have mounted the throne of France , 
having accepted the proposals of the Prince of 
Orange, is destined to succeed to another 
throne, which she is equally qualified to grace. 

The position of Wurtemburg was not of 
equal importance ; but still the extension of 
Russian influence in Germany, where already 
Weimar, Baden, and Oldenburgh were under 
its sway, was desirable. 

A young and gallant prince, whose military 
services were then considered to be the least 
of his claims to public esteem, was married to 
a princess of Bavaria. Separation took place 
instantaneously after the ceremony, as the mar¬ 
riage had been compulsive. Divorce was ob¬ 
tained*, and the Grand Duchess Catharine, 

* The virtues of this princess have since placed her on 
the throne of Austria. 


115 


whose name , activity, talents, and attachment 
to her native country, rendered her the gene¬ 
ral object of its affection, was established in 
Succession to a kingdom, of whose reigning 
monarch Napoleon said, “ If that man had but 
fifty thousand soldiers, he would weave me a 
more difficult web than any I have ever had to 
disentangle.” 

Personal feelings, as well as policy, suggest¬ 
ed the connection just solemnized at St. Peters¬ 
burg with a princess of Prussia—a connection 
full of recollections to bind, if any human ar¬ 
rangement can permanently bind, the friend¬ 
ship between crowns. 

Having thus traced a summary narrative of 
the principal points and facts, which charac¬ 
terized the policy of Russia, and have tended 
to her aggrandizement—a summary which will 
acquire interest the more it is examined and the 
more it is developed—the question may be in¬ 
vestigated which has been proposed, viz., how 
far any combination of France , England , and Aus¬ 
tria , can control the policy Russia may be disposed 
to pursue? 


116 


In order, however, to fix the dates, so vari* 
ous, in remembrance, it may be useful to re¬ 
capitulate them in chronological order. 

In the years between 1701 and 1711, the 
Czar Peter was contending, with various suc¬ 
cess, against the Swedes, Turks, and Poles, 
for an advance of his European frontier. 

in the year 1713, having conquered Riga and 
Livonia, he built the city of Petersburg!!, trans¬ 
porting thirty thousand persons from Archangel 
to be the inhabitants, and inviting foreigners, 
particularly the English, to settle there. 

In the year 1714, he developed his naval 
projects, which have been suspended , but never 
abandoned by his successors. 

In the year 1721, he declared himself Em¬ 
peror of all the Russias, and on his death, in 
1729, the world added, and preserved to his 
memory, the posthumous title of “ The Great.” 

From the year 1729 to 1762, although Rus¬ 
sia, under six sovereigns, some of w hose reig.n§. 


117 


were short and tragical, proceeded in the at¬ 
tainment of internal strength, solidity, and 
trade—although, in the reign of Elizabeth, she 
had connected herself with England, and ac¬ 
quired military character, still she had not 
taken her station as a great European power. 

When Catharine the Second mounted the 
throne, only twenty-two millions of people paid 
her homage. 

During her reign of thirty-three years, accord¬ 
ing to the best authorities of the time, the num¬ 
ber was augmented to nearly thirty-six millions , 
by acquisition and natural increase of popu¬ 
lation*. 

The computation may be made as follows 

Seven millions of Poles (including Courland- 
ers) acquired in the partitions, commencing 
with the confederation of Bar, and concluding 
with the capture of Prague in 1795. 

* It is generally admitted, that there is an annual in¬ 
crease of three hundred thousand souls in the whole popu¬ 
lation : but vide Geographical Memorandum affixed to the 
Map- 


118 


Two millions and a half of inhabitants of the 
New Servia (on the north of the Crimea, 
between the Boristhenes and the Don). The 
descendants of sixty thousand families of Ser¬ 
via, who emigrated in the reign of Maria The¬ 
resa from Hungary, the Bannat, and Croatia, 
in consequence of religious intolerance*, to 
whom Catharine, profiting by the occasion, 
offered an asylum and money. 

Her hospitality was rewarded by the culti¬ 
vation of neglected lands, until they have be¬ 
come some of the most flourishing countries 
of European Russia, under the name of the 
government of Catherinenslaw and Wosnesens- 
ki; a colony, which has preserved with the pa¬ 
rent provinces a connection always injurious tq 
Turkey, and becoming hourly more alarming to 
Austria. 

Half a million of Germans, and other set- 


* At the head of the list stands Miloradovich, the pupil 
of Smvarrow, and the competitor for fame with Bagrathion. 
Amongst the other distinguished families are—Scherich, 
Teckely, Ilorwath, Zorich, Dubasarski, Stench, Narancich, 
Ivelick, Mirascevich. 


119 


tiers, of which there are not less than forty thou¬ 
sand in the city of Petersburgh. 

Two millions in the government of Caucasus, 
Siberia*, Little Tartary, the Tartary of the 
Nogais, the Crimea, &c. &c. &c., exclusive of 
various Nomade people, who now supply irre¬ 
gular cavalry to the armies of Russia, and 
which contribute importantly to their efficiency. 

These twelve millions of people Catharine 
subjected to the military conscription , and Europe 
has seen soldiers from all of them twice enter 
the capital of Franee ! 

In this reign of naval and military exertion, 
territorial aggrandizement and political conse¬ 
quence made advances equally rapid on every 
side. 

The storm of Ismail had given her soldiers 
a reputation for active courage as well deserv¬ 
ed as that, which they had obtained for patient 
fortitude at the battle of CunnensdorfF; whilst 

* Siberia was first invaded by Ivan II; Peter the Great 
extended the conquest; but Catharine II completed the 
acquisition. 


220 


the naval victory of Tchecme enabled her to 
erect a proud rostral column in view of Con¬ 
stantinople ! 

Her will was the fiat of fate to surrounding 
nations, who, although fighting under the ban¬ 
ners of liberty , contended in vain. To the day 
of her death kings and philosophers conspired 
to feed her ambition and gratify her pride. 

Paul extended the military force, and the 
battle of Novi and the Trebia added to the 
laurels of Russia*. She did not, indeed, ac¬ 
quire any in Holland, but none faded in Swit¬ 
zerland, notwithstanding severe reverses. 

Alexander commenced his reign in the year 
1800, over thirty-six millions of people; but his 
armies were not numerous enough for his exten¬ 
sive possessions, and the increasing military 
force of the several great states of Europe. 

# Paul, as has been said, had faults \ but he also had 
virtues: amongst these was generosity; and he gave an 
interesting proof of it when he released the gallant Kos¬ 
ciusko. 


His military system wanted that organization* 
which was but imperfect in any one branch of 
government. 

The acquisitions of his predecessors had 
been enormous; but they had not yet complet¬ 
ed the line of frontier, which the acquisitions 
themselves required for their preservation. 

The guns of the Swedes could be heard id, 
Petersburgh: the Poles of Warsaw were sus¬ 
picious neighbours, and the Poles of Russia 
doubtful friends : the Turks in Asia were still 
inclined to struggle for the recovery of the Cri¬ 
mea, from which they were not a stone’s throw: 
the Turks in Europe still occupied Besserabia, 
and held the Russians in check on the Dniester, 

Georgia, in which but partial lodgments had 
been made, was always disturbed. The moun¬ 
tains of the Caucasus were full of hostile tribes, 
and Persia, by the possession of the province 
of Shirvan, presented a salient and offensive 
frontier, from which it fed a war, that cost the 
Russians annually great sums of money and 
caused much waste of life. Denmark and Swe* 


122 


den had considerable navies. Aland covered 
the Swedish coast from insult or sudden inva¬ 
sion, when the Gulph of Bothnia might be 
frozen; and Sweaborg commanded the naviga¬ 
tion of the mouth of the Gulph of Finland. 

The finances were deranged, and the ad¬ 
ministration of government in the different 
provinces was expensive, without being pro¬ 
ductive. 

To what extent Alexander has accomplished 
all his undertakings, without forgetting the in¬ 
terests he w T as bound to protect, may be difficult 
to prove, since there is no direct mode to as¬ 
certain the opinion of his subjects by the. dis¬ 
cussions of a free press ; but as far as the pre¬ 
valence of tranquillity in every province under 
his sway—as far as ostensible improvements, 
in all military ceconomy, and general order in 
all branches of the administration—can autho¬ 
rize the presumption, an extraordinary amelio¬ 
ration must have taken place. 

Bodies of recruits, of which three-fifths used 
to perish in the journey, now r arrive with no 


m 


more than common casualties ; and so far from 
the spirit of the people being worn down by 
demands for military service and augmenta¬ 
tion of taxes, patriotism has acquired devotional 
ardour, and the state has not found it necessa¬ 
ry to impose any additional burthens upon its 
inhabitants. 

The ground on which the town of Odessa 
now stands did not contain, in the year 1794, 
one house or inhabitant: now there are one 
thousand houses in stone, and above forty thou¬ 
sand residents. Eight hundred ships annually 
sail from the port; and such quantities of corn 
are exported, that this part of the world, as in 
the time of the Greeks and Romans, promises 
to be the chief granary of the Mediterranean. 

Tcherkaz, near the mouth of the Don, in the 
aea of the Azof, is no less prosperous. 

Astrakan, at the mouth of the Volga, by the 
last treaty with Persia (which gives the exclu¬ 
sive navigation of the Caspian Sea to the Rus¬ 
sian flag) has obtained equal advantages. 


124' 


The internal navigation from the White and 
Baltic to the Caspian and Black, Seas has been 
improved by various great works, and others 
are in progress. 

The city of Petersburg}! has been embellish¬ 
ed at the expense of five millions of roubles an¬ 
nually ; so that three-fourths of the houses are 
now palaces of stone , and the city itself has be¬ 
come the most magnificent in the w orld, foi 4 its 
buildings, its quays, its canals, and u the pellu¬ 
cid waters” of the majestic Neva. 

The impulse has not been confined to the 
European provinces; but Siberia, to which 
fcuch terrible images have been attached, from 
the supposed intolerable rigour of its climate* 
and its associating ideas of misery and unjust 
suffering, is become a fertilized and productive 
country, inhabited by voluntary settlers— 
amongst them many foreigners ; and not only 
the city of Tobolsk, enriched by every species 
of European and Asiatic luxury, is growing into 
a very considerable capital, distributing civili¬ 
zation around—but Irkoutska also, at the dis¬ 
tance of three thousand seven hundred and seventy - 


125 


four miles from Moscow, and not four hundred 
from the frontier of China, has become the seat 
of a considerable and flourishing government. 

Communications are open in all directions, 
even to Kamtschadska and the fort of St. Peter 
and St. Paul, at the distance, (by Okotsk, in 
the Pacific), of eight thousand seven hundred and 
thirty miles from Moscow.* 

Reports are regularly received from every 
government, and arrive generally at the pre¬ 
scribed day, and from most of them at the same 
hour. 


In no country in the world is travelling so 
cheap, or so secure against robbers ; and with¬ 
in the last half dozen years large inns have 
been erecting, under the order of the Empe¬ 
ror, at all the principal European post stations. 

# It must not be forgotten, that the communications are 
greatly facilitated by the sledge conveyance. Merchan¬ 
dize can be transported on sledges in one winter, which 
would require two summers water carriage. The journey 
from Okotsk is performed in less than three months. 




126 


Manufactories of all descriptions have bee* 
established, and particularly in iron> which is 
worked with a delicacy that rivals the artist* 
of any country. 

Carriages, which heretofore were imported 
from England, are now made under the origi¬ 
nal instruction of German and English buildr 
ers, with such good and cheap materials, as to 
render the prohibition of importation a matter 
of no regret 

Cloth manufactories are receiving great en¬ 
couragement from the government, and the late 
events on the continent have added largely to 
the manufacturing and mechanic population. 

The ports of Cronstadt, of Riga, and Revel, 
have not only been opened again to the trade 
with all Europe, but America is becoming a 
competitor of such importance as to render 
Russia no longer dependent on the English 
market: and thus the preference promised the 
English merchants by Peter the Great, when 
he addressed William the Third in Holland, in 
the year 1697, and the privileges subsequently 


327 


granted, have been cancelled, or rather not re¬ 
newed, on an alleged principle of general jus¬ 
tice. 

At the same time, the doctrines inculcated 
by La Harpe have not been neglected in Rus¬ 
sia. Slavery has not only been divested of many 
of its most disgusting features ; but great pro¬ 
gress has been made towards its abolition by 
the regulations as well as the example of the 
Emperor. 

The nobles of Esthonia have lately declared, 
that, at the expiration of a few years, necessa¬ 
ry for intermediate arrangements, useful to the 
peasant as well as to the proprietor, slavery 
shall no longer exist in their province ; and 
there is every reason to expect a more general 
extension of this policy will not be long pro¬ 
tracted. 

A disposition, manifested by the Emperor, to 
introduce preliminary measures for the esta¬ 
blishment of a constitutional government, was 
rejected by the senate, who declared for the 
maintenance of an autocracy . But if the senate 


] 28 


at that time had been as liberally disposed as 
the sovereign , the frame of a representative go¬ 
vernment might have been formed, to keep 
pace with the progress of education. 

While such are the characteristics of inter¬ 
nal improvement, the indications of external 
greatness, in her foreign relations, are no less 
unequivocal. 

It has been said already, when Alexander 
came to the throne thirty-six millions of people 
acknowledged his authority; but at this day, 
by increase and acquisition, there cannot be 
less than forty-two millions at the lowest calcu¬ 
lation ; and not of Asiatic houseless hordes, 
wandering in deserts, but chiefly of Europeans, 
situated in territories, whose military and po¬ 
litical value to Russia does not merely consist in 
an augmentation of her revenue and her num¬ 
ber of souls, but, as will be shown hereafter, in 
contracting her line of defence, and at the 
same time affording her powers of advance to 
positions, that must, if properly occupied, se¬ 
cure the command of Europe and of Asia ! 


129 


So many millions of people, of different reli¬ 
gions, language, and climate, subjected to one 
crown, might induce some statesmen, who rea¬ 
son from analogies w ithout the opportunity of 
practical observation, to calculate on a sepa¬ 
ration of the empire; to suppose, that its ex¬ 
tension will be its destruction ; that it is 

- like a circle in the water, 

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, 

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought. 

These speculations would be applicable if 
there were jyrogressive expansion of frontier — 
uncovered , or disconnected lines of communica¬ 
tion—colonial restraints on incorporated coun¬ 
tries—religious intolerance , even of the slightest 
kind—political proscriptions from prejudice or 
jealousy of the stranger : hut Russia having 
conquered, is content to enjoy her conquests 
with moderation; in all countries she re¬ 
spects the creed, indulges the manners, and 
maintains the laws she finds, if they are 
not adverse to those of humanity: her motto 
is, Me Rebus , rather than Mihi Res: she does 
not seek proselytes, she only desires subjects ; 
to whom all the civil and military offices of 

the state are open, according to their talents 
t 



130 


and services # ; to whom she grants indiscrimi¬ 
nately not only “jus civitatis , not only the jus 
commercii , jus connubii , jus hcereditatis , but also 
the^ws suffragii and jus honor urn” In Asia she 
is Asiatic—in Europe, European-—in America 
(according to Vancouver and all subsequent 
navigators) she is American. If pre-eminent, 
she does not display an insulting pre-eminence 
—she can follow as well as lead, and amalga¬ 
mate with indigenous customs and habits, how¬ 
ever heterogeneous. 

It was this system of legislation and connex¬ 
ion which preserved the Fins, the Lithuanians, 
the Courlanders, the Podolians, the Wolhy- 
nians, the Sarmates, and the Tartars in general, 
in their allegiance, and animated the Cossacks 
of the Don and the Wolga, with enthusiastic 
zeal in the service of a power against whose 
dominion they had so long contended. 


# Alexander has given another example of his judgment 
in the selection of officers, by appointing Woronzow to the 
command of the army in France; which appointment, like 
all his former preferment, is not the reward of adulation, 
but an acknowledgment of services and merits which justly 
entitle him to the full confidence of his sovereign. 


131 


There is no doubt that insurrection might 
have been produced in the Polish provinces, 
by a declaration of the independence of Po¬ 
land ; hut the temptations of all the combined 
circumstances under which that invasion took 
place, could alone have produced the volun¬ 
tary dismemberment of the empire. These cir¬ 
cumstances can never present themselves again: 
there is no other Napoleon : there is no France 
connected by a federative system with the Vis¬ 
tula, and moving all Europe in support of Po¬ 
land’s re-establishment: there was not at that 
time, a Polish monarchy under the Russian 
crown; a Russia, with nearly six hundred thou¬ 
sand men, exclusive of the Polish army. Aus¬ 
tria had not then abandoned Warsaw, to extin¬ 
guish the chance of being called upon by 
France to surrender Gallicia; and, above all , 
there had not been a Congress at Vienna . 

Poland has now her vanity gratified, although 
all her objects are not obtained; she has her 
national existence re-organized; she has her 
own laws, her own language, her own army, 
and her territory free from the charge of other 
troops: she has obtained great diminution of 


\ 


132 


imposts, and her revenue is applied to the irn-* 
provement of her own soil, and the reparation 
of her sufferings. 

The Prussian government laid out large sums 
of money in building towns and promoting in¬ 
dustry; but it wished to extirpate Polish re¬ 
membrances by Prussian laws, German lan¬ 
guage, and annihilation of all national mili¬ 
tary establishments: it had therefore generated 
antipathies unconquerable. 

Austria, always a hundred years behind the 
passing age, introduced all the odious exac¬ 
tions and restrictions which characterize her 
system of political economy; and which not 
only check the general prosperity, but expose 
to great peril the stability of her dominions. 

Poland knows, that both Prussia and Austria 
opposed her re-establishment as a monarchy: 
she can, therefore, have no faith in any future 
professions, if they should encourage efforts 
for total independence; and as little confidence 
would be placed in their military powers to ac¬ 
complish the object, if sincerely proposed. 


133 


Poland also knows, that in case she draws 
the sword against Russia, her own country, 
along an open and extensive frontier, must be 
the theatre of war. 

In forming the van of Russia, she either en¬ 
joys tranquillity; or, if she marches, is certain, 
from the weight of supporting force, and the 
offensive advantages of her salient position, to 
carry the ravages into a foreign territory. 

Now let the reader consider the station taken 
by Russia; her immense acquisitions, the bold 
line of her frontiers, and her domineering influ¬ 
ence over the whole world. 

The importance, however, of these acquisi¬ 
tions cannot be here fully manifested : the map 
and the intelligence of the observer must sup¬ 
ply many inevitable omissions. The object is 
to show, not what may be, but what is ; and with 
that design, to exhibit the profiles, the points, 
the pinnacles of the vantage-ground on which 
Russia now proudly reclines; for who can talk of 
the repose of ambition ? 


134 


In the year 1800, Russia rested her right 
flank on the North Sea; her frontier line tra¬ 
versing Russian Lapland, ran fifty miles in ad¬ 
vance of the White Sea: then covering the pro¬ 
vince of Olonetz, approached the Lake Ladoga 
within twenty miles, and fell upon the Gulf of 
Finland, at the distance of only one hundred and 
fifteen miles in a direct line from Petersburgh; 
so that Sweden not only commanded near two 
thirds of the northern coast of the Gulf of Fin¬ 
land, but ranged herself in view of, and at the 
distance of not more than thirty miles from the 
port of Revel, situated in the province of Livo¬ 
nia, wrested from her by Peter the Great, and 
which she might always hope to re-occupy, so 
long as she preserved such contiguity. 

The frontier of Russia opposed to the fron¬ 
tier line of Prussia , commenced near Memel ; 
and reaching the Niemen, between Tilsitz and 
Kovno, continued along that river as far as 
Grodno, when it ran in a southern direction up¬ 
on the Bug river between Drogutchin and Brest- 
litov; then descending to Wlodowa, on the fron¬ 
tier of Austrian Gallicia , continued along that 
province until it reached the Dniester, near 


13S 


Chotin, when it followed the course of that 
river into the Black Sea . 

On the side of Asia, the frontier was separat¬ 
ed from the Turkish possessions by the Cuban , 
a small river, which flows at a little distance 
from the very narrow strait which divides the 
Crimea from the continent of Asia , and connects 
the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea. It then 
continued along that river to its source, and 
passing in front of Georgiesk , and behind or to 
the northward of the mountains of Caucasus, join¬ 
ed the river Terek , and followed its course into 
the Caspian . 

In the year 1817, the right of the frontier still 
rests on the Northern Ocean , but, advancing a 
hundred and sixty miles, touches the frontier of 
Norway, and bends round it for a hundred and 
ninety miles, until it reaches a line drawn due 
north from the Torneo , when it descends on that 
river, and continues running parallel until it 
falls into the Gulf of Bothnia , intersecting a 
country through which the Swedish troops al¬ 
ways passed into Finland , but where, from the 
severity of the climate and the poverty of the 


136 


soil, none can move without previous arrange* 
meats. 

The difficulty, indeed, of the communication 
contributed to the loss of the Swedish provin¬ 
ces ; since Sweden could not sustain with a 
population of little more than two millions of 
people, and a revenue of not much more than 
one million, the heavy expenditure of men and 
money*. These difficulties, however, will be 
less felt by Russia, since the command of the 
Gulfs of Finland and of Bothnia would facilitate 
the operations. 

A line is then drawn through the Gulf of 
Bothnia, which sweeping round Aland, regains 
the continent in the province of Livonia, thus 
giving to Russia the ports o i Abo and of Swca- 
borg , which was the grea,t naval establishment 
of the Swedes on the coast of Finland, and all 
the numerous islands which cluster between 
Aland and the main land, and which are inha- 

* Before the separation of Finland, the revenue did not 
exceed one million and a half \ and the debt was considera¬ 
ble. The whole military force amounted to about fifty thou - 
sand men. 


137 


bited by a rich and happy population. But the 
island of Aland is distant from the shore of S we¬ 
den only twenty-four miles, from the Archipela¬ 
go of islands in advance of Stockholm not above 
thirty , and not above seventy from Stockholm it¬ 
self ; while the intervening sea is frequently fro¬ 
zen, so that carriages may pass. 

Thus Russia has completely changed her re¬ 
lative position with Sweden. Instead of her 
former vulnerable and humiliating defensive at¬ 
titude, she not only menaces but awes; and not 
only awes; but, from a variety of contingent 
circumstances, all favourable to her authority* 
she commands . 

On the JYiemen , the frontier remains in statu 
quo for about one hundred miles; when it tra¬ 
verses the Memel or Niemen river, and running 
along East Prussia, strikes the Vistula near 
Thorn, from whence Dantzic is distant about 
seventy miles * and Berlin only one hundred and 
seventy . 

The line then crosses the Vistula , and ad¬ 
vances to Kalish, a point nearly equidistant 

u 


138 


from Dresden and Berlin; thence taking a 
southern direction and passing within thirty 
miles of the Oder, it bends in an eastern course 
along the district of Cracow, which it respects; 
but at this point its distance from a third capi¬ 
tal, Vienna , is again only one hundred and seventy 
miles ; the Gallician frontier is then rounded, 
when the line traverses the Dniester , allongates 
the BuJcovine frontier*, until it reaches the river 
Pruth ; thus circumventing all that part of Po¬ 
land , except the Duchy of Posen , which belong¬ 
ed to Prussia by the partition-treaties. 

In this position, which may be called the 
very heart of Europe, she rides alongside the 
Brandenburgh possessions with the lofty and fear¬ 
ful superiority of one of her hundred and twenty 
gun ships over a Prussian galliot, when there 
is no escape from pressure, and when the weak¬ 
er must be crushed or overwhelmed. 

Notwithstanding the possession of the for- 

* The Bukovine is a small district lying between Tran¬ 
sylvania and Moldavia, and which has belonged to both 
these provinces it contains about one, hundred and thirty 
thousand inhabitants, now under the Austrian government. 


139 


tresses of Dantzic, Graudents, and Colberg, 
Prussia can never attempt to defend any terri¬ 
tory north of the Oder, and her line of fortresses 
on that river is now the only rampart of Ger¬ 
many, a rampart too of no value, if there are 
not supporting armies in the field equal or 
nearly so to the attacking force, and especially 
in the arm of cavalry ; which is almost impos¬ 
sible ; since Russia, without any extraordinary 
exertion, could bring one hundred and twenty 
thousand (regular and irregular) cavalry into 
action on the Prussian frontier. 

It is no wonder, then, that Prussia inter¬ 
weaves the myrtle with the olive , that she may 
preserve the ground for the laurels she has 
won ! Had she a hundred daughters, and Rus¬ 
sia as many sons, she would willingly unite 
them all. 

On the side of the frontier, from Cracow to 
the Pruth, the kingdom of Poland reposes on a 
friendly population, and not merely friendly, 
but one in which the white eagle is building, as 
it were, a native aerie: a territory which, in 
time of peace, occasions jealousy to the pre- 


140 


$ent possessor, and which, if the disaffection 
of the people were less unequivocal, could not 
be defended in time of war; notwithstanding 
political considerations render Sclavonian con-? 
tact with the Carpathian mountains perilous t© 
the Austrian monarchy. 

The Russian frontier having reached the 
Pruth , continues along that river (so disastrous 
in her history) to its confluence with the Da¬ 
nube ; when this great artery of Austria, and 
main support to the Turkish frontier, rolls its 
streams, now also tributary to the flag of Rus¬ 
sia, into the waters of the Black Sea. 

In this position Russia is distant only one 
hundred miles from Transylvania, about two 
hundred and fifty from Constantinople by water, 
and three hundred by land, in a direct line; 
whilst the two interjacent provinces of Molda¬ 
via and Wallachia are in fact regulated by her 
policy, though the Ottoman Porte retains the 
nominal sovereignty. 

Russia had endeavoured to obtain the line of 
fte Sereth , when she found that Austria was not 


141 


willing that she should occupy the whole of the 
provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, arid 
throw her frontier upon Illyria and the higher 
Danube ; a boundary-line which, in fact, would 
have uncovered not only Illyria, but the Banat, 
Transylvania, and Hungary ; and brought her 
within a little more than two hundred miles of 
Constantinople. 

The preparations of Napoleon had induced 
Russia to accelerate the signature of peace ; 
Andreossy’s arrival to counteract the negotia¬ 
tions had been fortunately protracted, and the 
Turkish ministers signed the conditions of a 
treaty, for which they afterwards lost their 
heads, on the charge of having received the 
bribes of Russia. 

It is probable that Russia, under the circum¬ 
stances of the subsequent invasion, might have 
been persuaded to return to the Dniester . 

The recovery of Besserabia was a great ob¬ 
ject to the Porte , on account of the Danube 
line, and it was also desirable for humanity^,* 


142 


since Moldavia, like Saxony, cut in twain, see* 
her population divided; and under govern¬ 
ments with adverse interests, feels all the suf¬ 
ferings which such policy is calculated to in¬ 
flict; and which the King of Saxony so well 
described in his protest, when he observed, 
“ that it had no principle for basis but the con¬ 
venience of the partitioning powers, and no 
regard for the welfare and internal relations 
of the people.” 

These considerations, added to the impor¬ 
tance of pacific relations with Turkey (in vir¬ 
tue of which the Moldavian army was render¬ 
ed disposable for the very service which it af¬ 
terwards executed), might perhaps have ob¬ 
tained a voluntary restitution of the Moldavian 
acquisition, if the future safety of Turkey had 
then engaged sufficiently the attention of her 
allies, or if they had exercised the forethought 
of Alexander at Abo; but the occasion was 
lost, and fortune, like other females, generally 
resents the slight of proffered favours. 


Here then Russia stands : no longer menaced 
in flank or on her communications by the 


143 


Uhlans of Poland , but supporting her attitude 
with the soldiers, the population, and resour¬ 
ces of that rich and warlike country!—no lon¬ 
ger fearful of a diversion from a Swedish ar¬ 
my, where kindred ties might still have favour¬ 
ed the operations of the invader. While Tur¬ 
key, deprived of these auxiliaries, abandoned 
vto her daily impoverishing means of defence, 
sees a danger still more formidable approach 
on a frontier which heretofore had been inacr- 
cessible to any Giaour * enemy. 

After the acquisition of the Crimea in 1791* 
the Cuban river, as before observed, separa¬ 
ted the Turkish and Russian frontier. The 
river itself is of no importance; but from thence 
a very narrow isthmus formed by a small gulf 
(through which the waters of the Cuban flow), 
and the Black Sea, runs for about twenty miles 
to the point of Anapa, where the mountains of 
Caucasus approach close to the shore, and 
contract the line of defence to a point. 

Now, instead of the Crescent waving on the 
batteries of the Cuban, the Mahometan banner, 


Turkish word of contempt for infidels. 


144 


replaced by the Russian eagles , has been driven 
across and beyond the navigable Pbasis, and is 
not to be found until the river Radius in Ar¬ 
menia presents a feeble barrier, while the Rus¬ 
sian advanced frontier, supported by the moun¬ 
tain line, which connects Georgia with her new 
position, secures an indisputable sovereignty 
over the acquired country, and bids defiance 
to attack. 

Thus here, as on the Swedish , Polish , and 
Moldavian frontier, invulnerable herself, she 
stands ready to strike and to wound; to hurl 
her thunder over Asia whenever her policy 
deems the moment expedient: for her routes 
of march to all the points which attract her* 
are now but marches of a few days. 

The distance is to Trebisond, but eighty 
miles; to the western bank of the Euphrates, 
not above ninety; to Arzroum, one hundred; to 
Sinope, two hundred and seventy ; to Scutari, op¬ 
posite Constantinople, a little more than Jive 
hundred; across the Isthmus of Asia Minor to 
Alexandretta* (a seaport town opposite Cyprus 

* Near this town Alexander conquered Darius at the 
battle of Issus. 


145 


m the Mediterranean ), and only sixty miles from 
Aleppo , little more than four hundred; and to 
the Red Sea from thence not five hundred . 

Here then she is moreover posted with per¬ 
fect communications, with a sea road for the 
transport of her stores and magazines, await¬ 
ing but a signal to advance, and make herself 
mistress of those communications along ivhich the 
Turks in Europe must receive their Asiatic rein¬ 
forcements. Here she is posted to lance the 
Greek fire from the shore of the Bosphorus oil 
the towers of the Seraglio , if the Sultan does 
not obey the Russian Ukase ! 

The guns of Napoleon at Acre shook the 
Ottoman empire to its foundations. If the 
French armies had been lodged as the Rus¬ 
sians now are, on the Danube, and in Armenia, 
with the Black Sea under their dominion; or 
if but one army could have reached Asia Mi¬ 
nor, isolated as that army would have been, 
and deprived of the advantages which Russia 
possesses by her religious connexion with the 
Greeks , there is little doubt but that Armenia a 
second time would have seen a handful of sol- 
w 


146 


diers regarded “ as too many for an embassy, 
and too few for a fight,” make before the setting 
sun her multitudes the chase of their disci¬ 
pline ; and that the tricoloured flag would have 
waved on the w alls of Byzantium. 

I 1 

It may be said, however, that Persia would 
march to the aid of the Mussulmans, although 
the religious quarrel between these nations ren¬ 
ders them deadly enemies, when Christians do 
not menace the overthrow of both; but Persia 
by the late treaty, made under the auspices of 
England, is herself prostrate at the feet of Russia*. 

Russia has descended from the mountains! 
She is no longer struggling against the hostility 
of nature and barbarians in the regions of the 
Caucasus; she has advanced into the plain, 
and sweeping with her frontier round Georgia, 
absorbing the Persian provinces of Baughistan 
and Shirvan, so as to consolidate and cement 
all her possessions, she has raised a pillar of 

* The British ambassador obtained the best terms he could; 
but his inability to procure better, corroborates the asser¬ 
tion of the text, with respect to the present helpless situa¬ 
tion of Persia. 


147 


her empire at the mouth of the river Kur; and 
to complete her triumph, to remove all rivals,- 
and monopolize commerce, she has stipulated 
that her flag, and her flag a/owe, shall sweep 
the Caspian. 

Thus Persia is humbled to the dust, and her 
court to eastern dependence and bondage. It 
is true, that Persia, unfettered by Turkish pre¬ 
judices, has long solicited, and has at length ob¬ 
tained, the instruction of Europeans , of French 
officers, officers of the army of Napoleon pro¬ 
scribed by Louis ; and it is not probable that 
they have carried with them feelings of ill will 
to Russia so strong as those towards England; 
that they would rather storm the frozen Caucasus 
than join in an expedition to share the spoil of 
Asia, and avenge in the East, their humiliations 
in Europe, 

To reach Tchiran , the capital of the Shah, 
the columns have to march only three hundred 
miles; and by the navigation of the Caspian 
thoy can be disembarked within one hundred! 
Thus an army might sail from the Baltic through 
an internal navigation from Petersburg!! to As- 


140 


tracan, and landing on the southern shore of 
the Caspian, pitch their tents within four hun¬ 
dred miles of the Persian Gulf; from whence the 
voyage to Bombay is only from twenty-four to thir¬ 
ty days, in both Monsoons; and to Madras, but 
eight or ten days longer in the S. W. Monsoon*. 

This, then, is the territorial attitude of Rus¬ 
sia. But can any power sustain a force sutli- 
cient to garrison a frontier, whose points d^appui 
are the Northern Ocean and the Caspian, as 
well as the frontiers of China and Armenia; on 
whose line Sivedes , Austrians , Turks , and Per¬ 
sians , are arrayed with feelings and interests at 
war with the power that would enslave them ? 

Can Russia , who in the year 1799 had a dis¬ 
posable army of only fifty thousand men ; in the 
year 1807, not more than eighty thousand to de¬ 
fend both capitals; and in the year 1813, only 
three hundred thousand^ on her whole territory, 

* Nearchns, the captain of Alexander the Great’s fleet, 
from ignorance of the compass, being obliged to hug the 
coast, was still only sixty-one days actually in his voyage 
from the Indus. 

f Peter the Great is said to have had one hundred thousand 
men at Narva ; but they were troops of that description 


149 


after several years preparation; can she, not¬ 
withstanding a destructive invasion and wars of 
such great waste and expenditure, have collect¬ 
ed and re-equipped armies sufficient to defend 
her acquisitions and improve her advantages ? 
The answer is, She can; and Europe and Asia 
must acknowledge the truth of that assertion: 
for, both quarters of the globe are overshadow¬ 
ed by the mass of six hundred and forty thousand 
men, which an establishment of one million two 
hundred thousand ranges in order of battle, exclu¬ 
sive of militia , Tartar cavalry, &c. 

The fact is, that Russia , after posting thirty 
thousand men of appropriate force, with artille¬ 
ry, &c. in Finland, eighty thousand on the fron¬ 
tier of Gallicia, sixty thousand i n Moldavia, thirty 
thousand on the frontier of Armenia, as many in 
Persia, and leaving a reserve of one hundred thou¬ 
sand men to sustain these armies, possesses still 
a disposable force of above two hundred thousand 
infantry, eighty thousand cavalry, and one thousand 
two hundred guns better horsed for service than 

which present themselves under the image of sheep, whose 
numbers never concern the wolves, and which eight thousand 
Swedes, being disciplined, conquered. 


150 


any artillery or cavalry in the world*;—an 
army, than which, there is none more brave, and 
with which no other can march, starve, or suffer 
physical privations and natural inclemencies. 
She has moreover a population equal to the 
needed supply, and to a great portion of whom 
the habits and sufferings of war are familiar ; 
while no power in Europe can raise, equip or 
maintain their forces, with such disdain of the 
price of bloodf. 

Such is Russia —such has been her gigantic 
growth within a short century! The elements 
of her greatness, no doubt, previously existed, 
but, like the treasures in the bowels of the 
earth, they were undiscovered, and, when pro¬ 
duced, were still too full of dross for use, with¬ 
out skilful separation. 

Ability and audacity have guided the engine : 
fortune, and the errors of enemies, have contribut- 

* The militia would perform the garrison duties, if all the 
regular troops were required on emergency in the field. 
Her defensive means, indeed, are so great and various, as to 
be incalculable. 

t The actual pay of a Russian soldier is not much above 
half a crown a month. 


151 


ed to its action : at the same time, political mo¬ 
rality has been no check on the councils of Rus¬ 
sia, and in good truth has seldom been any to 
the operation of power since the world began. 
Asia , Europe , and America , have scarcely seen 
the day when this morality has been a shield 
to the rights, liberties or independence, of the 
feeble, destitute of all other protection. If, in¬ 
deed, nature and barbarism did not oppose too 
formidable obstacles, an army of “ deliverers 
and champions of social order” would soon tra¬ 
verse Africa, and, at the walls of Tombuctoo , 
from the mouths of cannon, on some plea or 
other, demand submission and tribute; perhaps, 
indemnification for the contributions levied by 
Hannibal*. 

Alexander now wields the huge sceptre of 
Russia, and displays an ability equal to the 
task. His philosophical views have indeed 
been enfeebled by pernicious advisers; but 
those who have known him in other days, still 
cling to the hope that he will not substitute an 

* It is said that the Prussians and others now require 
four hundred millions of dollars from France, as an indemni¬ 
fication for expenses during the revolutionary war. 


152 


unfeeling policy, of which the pillars are tyran* 
ny, ignorance, and fanaticism , for the sentiments 
of that genuine philanthropy, which must still 
have possession of his heart, though they do 
not animate his councils. 

If, indeed, Alexander had resisted the ene¬ 
mies of liberty and human happiness—if he had 
persevered in the wish he once professed, to see 
governments and nations so constituted, that 
sovereigns should be only the executive repre¬ 
sentatives of represented states, whose action de¬ 
pended not on the character of the individual 
chief, but on general, fixed, and self-operating prin¬ 
ciples; he would have added to his glory, the 
more illustrious and imperishable title of the 
44 Benefactor to Mankind.” 

Now he appears only in the character (and 
his enemies triumph in the result) of a conque¬ 
ror, who engages the consideration of the uni¬ 
verse by the immensity of his power to do real 
mischief and problematical good. 

How he will employ the vast force at his 
disposition, is certainly a most interesting ques- 


153 


tion. Whether he will take the line of the 
Vistula or even Oder for himself; push Prus¬ 
sia into Holland; instigate Franee to imitate 
England, and complete and terminate her re¬ 
volution by the election of a sovereign from the 
family of Nassau ; or whether he will enter 
into negotiations with Austria for a new ar¬ 
rangement of Europe, which may restore the 
balance; are speculations, w hich have excited 
the hopes and fears of many. Whether he 
will profit by the positions and present supe¬ 
riority of Russia , to accomplish other projects 
long assigned to her system of policy, must 
interest all governments, not excepting the 
government of the East Indies; whose atten¬ 
tion may also be more excited by the infor¬ 
mation, that General Yermoloff, the governor 
of the Caucasus line, who probably at this very 
moment has reached the capital of Persia on 
an embassy, is an officer of the highest merit 
and capacity as an administrator as well as a 
soldier; and that he has gone assisted not only 
by the French officers employed by Napoleon, 
under Gardanne, in Persia, and whom Alex¬ 
ander, with the exception of three, engaged in 
the Russian service, but with the Reports and 


x 


154 


maps sent by that mission to Napoleon, and 
which being carried into Russia at the time of 
the invasion, were found during the retreat, in 
two abandoned tumbrils. 

These reports and plans had convinced Na¬ 
poleon , that the expedition to India was practica¬ 
ble ; and it is a positive fact , that he had resolv¬ 
ed on sending an united Russian and French 
force on that expedition, in case Russia had 
been compelled to make peace on his terms*. 

* The names of the officers are: 

Gardanne. 

Koussian , Secretary. 

Lajard , Under Secretary. 

Jonctinni, Interpreter. 

Salvatorij Physician. 

’ Lami. 

Bon terns. 

Verdier. 

Fabrices . 

Bianchi d’Adad. 

Robert. 

Marion. 

, Gnidard. 

These are all very distinguished officers of engineers and 
artillery. It is reported that some of them are to proceed 
on a mission to one of the Indian powers, after a short re¬ 
pose at Tchiran. 



155 


There are two additional circumstances mos 
important to influence opinion, if they cannot 
fix the judgment, as to the further proposed ex¬ 
tension of the Russian power. 

Alexander has already a much larger army 
than his defensive line requires, or his finances 
can justify; and yet he continues to increase 
his force, 

Russia , with a line of coast upon two seas, on 
which there is not navigation above half the 
year, and in one of them, the Baltic , no competi¬ 
tor, not content with an establishment of above 
eighty sail of the line in the ports of 
Archangel , 

Crons tadt, 

Revel ', 

Sevastopol , 

Cher son ; 

notwithstanding the pressure of the French war, 
has been incessantly building, and is building 
with increasing activity, the heaviest line of 
battle ships. 

Alexander knows as well as any British admi¬ 
ral, that ships of any force or of any amount are 


156 


of no value without seamen to navigate them; 
and that seamen cannot be formed on inland seas 
alone. He also knows and feels as well as any 
economist in Europe , that ships are costly vani¬ 
ties, if built only for ostentation. There is no 
sovereign who would have been less inclined to 
divert his treasure from state necessities, for the 
indulgence of this unprofitable pursuit, than 
Alexander. 

There is, therefore, evidence amounting to 
conviction, that he has always proposed to ac¬ 
complish the instructions of Peter the Great , and 
extend his empire until he can establish that 
real maritime pow r er which himself and people 
have coveted more since they have seen so 
much commercial wealth, or, as they term it, 
colonial gold, flow into their country. Putant 
cnim, qui mari poiitur , cum rerum pofiri . 

It is not likely that he will be satisfied with a 
Dutch permit; but w hether he will seek to estab¬ 
lish himself in the ports of Norway, in Zealand, 
in the Archipelago, in the Mediterranean; or 
whether, like the son of Jupiter Ammon on the 
banks of the Hyphasis , he w ill say, “ Our empire 


157 


shall have no other hounds than those which 
God has set to the earth”—time will show. 

Are then Europe, and Asia, and America* (of 
which hemisphere nothing has been said, for 
the hour is not yet ripe, though it teems with 
matter of the highest moment to the w orld), to 
make no effort for the preservation of their in¬ 
dependence ? 


# It may, however, interest the reader to know that the 
establishments of the Russians commence at Okotsh, on the 
Siberian coast, in a bay of the Pacific Ocean, that they ex¬ 
tend from thence by Kainschadka to the north-west coast 
of America, where the principal establishments have been 
long fixed in the populous island of Kodia (inhabited by 
hunters, and situated in 57| degrees north, and 152^ west 
longitude from Greenwich), and in Norfolk Sound, 57 de¬ 
grees north, and 135 west longitude ; where the fort is so 
considerable as to be armed with 100 pieces of cannon. 
Since the year 1813, however, the Russians have descended 
the American coast, passed the Columbia river Jive hundred 
miles, and settled in Badoga, at 38^ north, and only thirty 
miles from the Spanish establishments in California ; where 
they not only are trading with great advantage, but are 
profiting by a fine climate and fruitful soil, to feed their 
more northern possessions. The passage from the north¬ 
west coast of America to the Persian Gulf may be averaged 
between three and four months ; but a ship leaving Busso- 
rah in April to profit by the S. W. Monsoon, would easily 
gain the N. W, coast of America in three months. 


158 


Must the fiat of Alexander be the law of the 
universe ? Is Russia , like Rome under the image 
of Milo the wrestler, to be looking round in vain 
for an antagonist ? 

Painful as it is to reflect, that a war for the 
restoration of the balance of power should have 
ended in the overthrow of all balance; in the 
substitution of solid dominion , for a momentary au¬ 
thority ; in a national supremacy , instead of the 
supremacy of one extraordinary man , subject to all 
the vicissitudes of fortune and the infirmities of 
humanity : it is nevertheless true ; and so long as 
France is not reunited to Europe , so long as she can- 
not be rendered contributive to the general system 
of defence , every monarch and nation on the con¬ 
tinent must owe their existence to the forbear¬ 
ance of Alexander . 

To verify this assertion, so revolting to pride, 
and so opposite to expectation, it will be ne¬ 
cessary to take a concise but accurate review 
of the situation in which the several powers 
cited as the guardians of Europe against the en¬ 
croachments of Russia have been placed by the 
policy pursued at Vienna and at Paris . 


159 


FRANCE. 

When alliances are formed, it is presumed 
that governments represent the people governed , 
and that the force of the nation is at their dis¬ 
posal. 

When a combination with France is propos¬ 
ed, France ought to suggest the image of a sove¬ 
reign power capable to bring into action the re¬ 
sources and exertions of twenty-six millions of 

people. 

Is that, however, the state of France ? 

Will any man who has been in that country 
affirm, as the honest belief of his mind, that such 
an union exists between the Crown and the sub¬ 
jects as would permit the experiment of armies 
being formed, under the banners of the lilies, to 
march and act in concert with its allies ? 

Will not all men who ha judgments to exer¬ 
cise, and minds independent enough to speak truth , 
without regard to interest, admit as their sincere 


160 


conviction that the Bourbons cannot remain with¬ 
out military protection; and yet that the crea¬ 
tion of a native force would endanger their over¬ 
throw ? 

How can it be otherwise ? 

The Bourbons appearing as the proconsuls of 
the foreigner , were identified with all the hu¬ 
miliations, all the exactions, all the violences, 
all the broken promises of which the French 
nation complained. 

To sooth irritation—to conciliate outraged 
feelings—to erase the impression of their hav¬ 
ing acted in concert with the foreigner in those 
grievous measures, was the policy which inte¬ 
rest and duty dictated. 

A general amnesty —an inviolable charter —the 
nationalization “ of a family which (Napoleon so 
often said) had for twenty-five years been only 
known to France from their alliance with her 
enemies,” was requisite, and would have suc¬ 
ceeded to eradicate all animosities, to have 
established unanimity amongst all classes, all 


professions, all parties! The monarch might 
have obtained allegiance —the peopl e tranquillity— 
&nd the state that power which it is the interest 
of all other powers she should possess. If 
Louis had but heard the language of wisdom, 
and nature’s best feelings, he would have 
adopted a policy of oblivion and humanity: 
he would have acknowledged former reciprocal 
errors between the governors and governed, 
and sheathed the sword of Justice, if power 
can be called justice, when staining her ermine 
by an illegal exercise of the judicial functions** 

# The generous defender of right , from whose Letter ex- 
tracts have already been made, thus at the same time ao 
quits the policy which was unhappily rejected. 

“The want of principle and consistency, and the disgust- 
ing changes of the Marshals, have, I know, steeled men’s 
minds to their sufferings. This is natutal enough : but when 
the violence of the times is gone by, and, above all, when 
the tomb has closed on their offences, the transaction will 
be judged with reference to the character of the contending 
party, and to the nature of the promise; not to the conduct 
or misconduct of the sufferers. Non te dignum, Cherect , 
fecisti ; nam si ego digna hac contumelid sum maxime } at tu 
indignus qui faceres, tamen. 

“ Nor is this all: if vve judge by former instances, even 
the crime itself will be regarded with more indulgence by 
posterity than any irregular mode of punishing it. Allow¬ 
ance for individuals is made in all great changes. It is dif¬ 
ficult, in sudden emergencies and great convulsions of 
,£tate, especially for professional men, whose lives have 


lm 


Instead of that system, the most sacred 
treaties were violated: retrospective proscrip - 

been passed in camps, to weigh maturely all the considera¬ 
tions by which their conduct should, in the strict line of 
duty, be regulated : unforeseen cases arise; and men even 
of good principles and understanding, are hurried into acts 
of inconsistency and political immorality. History is full 
of such instances; and in our own, the name of one with 
whom no commander can dislike to be associated, brings 
them to our recollection. Marlborough abandoned in his 
king, his benefactor and protector ; betrayed the person 
who placed great confidence in him, and did so when the 
opinions of his friends and party were, to say the least, di¬ 
vided, and not unanimously in favour of the steps he took. 

" These men (the French) deserted a standard to which 
they were recently, reluctantly, and barely reconciled; 
under which they were regarded with suspicion by their go¬ 
vernment, with hatred and reproach by their fellow-sol¬ 
diers ; and they went over to their ancient companion in 
arms and victory; to one, from whom they had derived 
rank, property , character , and importance. They did so 
too, when all the military feeling of their country was de¬ 
cidedly in union with the cause they espoused. A stoic, a 
philosopher, a man whose public principles are stronger 
than his private affections, gratitude, or vanity, might, per¬ 
haps, have acted otherwise; and, from strict regard to his 
honour once given, have sacrificed his fortunes, his favour, 
and popularity, with those to whom he was obliged, to sup¬ 
port a cause in which he found himself engaged against his 
interests and his inclinations. I own, however, that any mi¬ 
litary man, who was to lay his hand on his heart, and say 
that he would have done so, would give me a much higher 
opinion of his present prudence than of his self-knowledge 
Or candour. 

“ In the latter view of the subject, I know I am some* 


163 


lions, in defiance of the charter , were lawlessly 
proposed, and the Deity outraged by an impi¬ 
ous association of his name with the infraction*. 

Executions multiplied; and, as if the axe was 
too prompt a relief for the sufferer, and the 
public eye, hands were previously struck off, whilst 
the wretched sufferers , with their bleeding stumps, 
were ranged on the scaffold to await the further 
operation of the executioner ! 

what singular; few at present make much allowances for 
the political tergiversations of the Marshals; and many, 
more indulgent than I am in their judgment of political 
apostacy in England , are quite outrageous with Frenchmen 
for not acting with inflexible principle in the most trying 
and difficult circumstances. Some, however, among the 
most indignant at their crimes, yet doubt the justice, policy , 
and safety of punishing them ; and more, especially among 
the moderate of all parties, think the claim of the capitula¬ 
tion conclusive , or if not quite so, of a nature questionable 
enough to induce the contending parties, for the preservation 
of their own and the national character , to give it the con¬ 
struction most favourable to the weaker party. 

tl I have not spoken of Lavalette; all my arguments ap¬ 
ply in his favour as strongly as in Ney’s; and surely he is 
not, as others may be, the object of any bystander’s indig¬ 
nation. He is an honourable man throughout.” 

# Vide Richelieu’s speech in the Chamber of Peers, when 
he said that the will of God was visible in the determina¬ 
tion to violate the charter; and, therefore, the King con¬ 
sented. 


i64 


The punishment of parricide was applied to 
these unfortunate men, condemned on the 
charge of treason, but it was the first time that 
it had ever been inflicted, and the atrocity was 
aggravated by the accused not having been 
permitted to confront the accuser , a creature of 
Ike police, whose ivritten deposition was received in 
evidence*. 

Such was the justice, tempered with mercy, 
that characterized the triumphs of legitimacy! 

Since, however, the people of France, could 
not, any more than the people of Rome, be alj 
decollated, laws authorizing arbitrary arrests 
were passed, and the prisons were choked 
with victims, many of whom are now, proba¬ 
bly, rotting in solitary dungeons. 

It w ould exceed the proposed limits of this 
work, to detail all the rueful absurdities, all 
the unconstitutional acts*)*, all the severities which 

* Vide Trials, and reflect on the progressive abuses of 
the blood system. 

f Vide Royal Ordonnance, when the illegality of the 
elections ordered by the King the preceding year, was ac¬ 
knowledged. 


distinguished this epoch, and continued until 
the reviving strength of the oppressed compel¬ 
led more circumspection, and some approach 
to those forms which are designed to guarantee 
the lives and fortunes of men from violence and 
injustice. 

The result, however, of the system, which 
commenced by octroying the charter; which re¬ 
established sovereignty on the ruins of good 
faith, and cemented it with the blood of her 
generals, has been, that a line of separation is 
drawn between the Bourbons and the French 
people, so that mutual confidence on a commu¬ 
nity of interest will perhaps never be esta¬ 
blished. 

44 The nature of man must,” as an eminent 
writer has said, 44 change before voluntary obe¬ 
dience can be obtained from hatred , or homage 
from contempt .” 

The Bourbons and France being at variance, 
all political connexion between the government 
and foreign powers, which erects a system on 
the presumed co-operation of the nation , is and 
must be delusive to the ally . 


166 


France, unless she arrays an hundred and fifty 
thousand men, can be of no use to her allies; 
and if she does array them, then one hundred 
and fifty thousand men will too probably end, if 
they do not begin, by redressing their own 
wrongs. 

What can be done with a government whose 
existence depends on the coalition of Europe for 
its support; and, if deprived of that general 
aid, and obliged to connect itself with some 
friendly pow ers, can offer no security, that the 
soldiers, when armed, will, with ar?ns in their 
hands , obey the royal authority ? 

Franee, armed, would strike more terror into 
Austria, England, and Switzerland, than into 
Russia. One would fear for Italy; the other for 
the Scheldt; and the third, retaliation for inju¬ 
ries : Russia alone, from causes already assign¬ 
ed, has little to dread. 

Would it however not be hazardous to place 
a French soldier in the presence of Maria Louisa 
and the young Napoleon; or in any country 
which might recall former glory to recollec¬ 
tion ? 


The impetuous feelings of a nation goaded 
to madness by humiliations and all sorts of suf¬ 
ferings, and roused to action by the hope of 
successful revenge, are not to be resisted by 
any government; but yet it must be doubtful 
whether the Bourbons could buy a few months’ 
precarious possession of the throne by compli¬ 
ance with the national impulse. 

At all events, there is no view of the subject, 
where the danger is not more positive and greater 
than the projected good: and although volumes 
might be written, the same conclusion must be 
drawn, that until France is restored to peace with 
herself—until her government can say 44 Toto certan- 
dum est corpore regni as an ally she is disquali¬ 
fied; and the emasculation deprives the conti¬ 
nent of Europe of the power to form a federa¬ 
tive system of government, until a sovereign, as 
Diogenes said to the Macedonian , 44 can resem¬ 
ble the queen-bee , who rules without a sting: un¬ 
til good faith is the religion of his government, 
and justice and clemency are the guards of the 
throne, he may reign under the name of king, 
but his fears will make him a slave!”— JVonne 
millies perire est melius quam in sm civitate sine ar- 


motorum prcesidio non posse vivere ? Sed nullum esl 
istuc mihi crede , prcesidium: suavitate et benevolentid 
civium septum oportet esse, non armis. 


AUSTRIA. 

After a pertinacious struggle of twenty years, 
Austria , overwhelmed by military losses and 
financial distress, seemed to have reached the 
climax of her ruin, when a family alliance with 
her conqueror re-established her in the attitude 
of a great European power. 

The connexion with France was a measure 
of national policy; and the re-establishment of 
the House of Lorraine on the throne of France, 
at which throne all continental Europe bowed 
in homage, mitigated some of the bitterness of 
that feeling which preceding humiliations had 
engendered in the general mind of the nation. 

The nobility, however, whose fortunes had 
been wrecked by the contest and the exactions 
of Napoleon, regarded this marriage as an ad* 
ditional mortification; and under that impres¬ 
sion, the wounds that closed, were “ festering 
all within.” 


169 


Napoleon was not ignorant of this latent ani¬ 
mosity; and, when he invaded Russia, resolved 
to make a temporary sacrifice of the indepen¬ 
dence of Poland , to purchase the co-operation 
of Austria, 

The issue of the Russian campaign, to which 
Austria so much contributed, that Napoleon 
might not accomplish his design to re-establish 
a Polish throne at Warsaw, elevated her into 
the position of arbitrator of the destinies of 
Europe. Abandoning however her position, 
she flung her sword into the scale of Russia, 
and Germany , following her example, w r as re¬ 
lieved from French dominion. 

Chaining her policy to the course of events, 
without any rittempt to build a system of her 
own, she saw the crown of France plucked 
from the brows of her daughter and grandson , 
without any effort to prevent its seizure. 

Europe, or the cabinets of Europe, applauded 
the magnanimity of the sacrifice ; and if Austria 
for an instant felt it as such, she quickly found 

consolation in the spoil of the French empire, 
z 


170 


No national rights , no solemn engagements , prov¬ 
ed any obstacle to her claims of indemnity— 
restitution was not only made of all the provinces 
and countries wrested from her in the course 
of her wars, but Ragusa, Venice, and all the 
Venetian possessions, were surrendered to her 
by allies who had confederated to punish ambi¬ 
tion and restore the independence and liberties of 
subjugated states. 

The division of Switzerland, and the annexa¬ 
tion of Alsace and Lorraine to the Austrian 
monarchy, would have been superadded ; but 
Alexander interposed, and the memoirs to prove 
the Austrian titles to these further acquisitions, 
were returned to the archives of Vienna. 

In pursuing this system of aggrandizement, 
Francis certainly did not consider that he was 
acting in the spirit of that usurpation which 
Europe had risen against and overthrown. 

Personally beloved by his own subjects, for 
the benignity of his character and the mildness 
of his reign, he forgot that he w as not immortal, 
and that nations preferred the security of self- 


171 


government to the precarious exercise of de¬ 
spotic authority. He also did not bear in 
mind that example was contagious and fatal, 
when supplying precedents for the abuse of 
power. 

It is true he now extends his rule over twenty - 
ty-eight millions of people ; that the Austrian na¬ 
vy now rides in the Adriatic; but is not this the 
plumage of a day, adorning the imperial bird, 
but not supporting him in his flight ? Are those 
twenty-eight millions united by interest and volun¬ 
tary allegiance, or rather are not above eight 
millions of Gallicians, Montenegrins, Ragusans, 
and Italians, retained in subjection by force ? 
and are not as many more exposed to seduc¬ 
tion by the sacrifice of their prosperity under a 
partial and false system of political econo¬ 
my* ? 

Is Russia, Sclavonian Russia, Greek Russia, 
Cosmopolite Russia, with her six hundred and 
forty thousand men on the Danube, the Pruth, 
the Bug, and the Warta, with Poland as her ad- 


Hungary contains near seven millions of inhabitants. 


172 


▼anced guard, and Prussia as her partizan, not 
more formidable to Austria in perpetuity, than 
Napoleon ever was—and this too without re¬ 
moving the just cause ot her former alarm ? for 
France, though now muzzled, is “ as the lion’s 
whelp, refusing to exemplify the patience of the 
ass couching between burdens*.” In case of 
war with Russia, can three hundred and fifty thou - 
sand men, the most Austria could ever array, 
form a sufficient rampart for the protection of 
her frontier against the invader, and guard 
over her southern subjects ? 

Unmoored from France by the deposition of 
the Lorraine dynasty, and the state of that 
country already developed, can she ride with 
confidence at a single anchor ? 

Bankrupt in credit, as indigent of wealth, 
where can she obtain any pecuniary aid in 
her necessity? The Bourbons could borrow, 
Russia can procure money, but where can 
Austria negotiate another Imperial loan ? 

# Vide the blessing of Judah and Issachar, book of Ge¬ 
nesis. 


173 


Without England as her treasury, without 
France as her reserve, with a volcano under 
her feet, and a belt of Russian bayonets indent¬ 
ing her frontier, is her situation improved by 
the new political system of Europe, to the de¬ 
gree that it might have been, if she had prefer¬ 
red solidity to aggrandizement ? 

When she agreed to break the ties which 
connected the government and people of France 
with her interests, was she wise.to establish the 
right of the strongest as the public law of Eu¬ 
rope ? 

As the protectress of minor states, she w ould 
have been invigorated by their corresponding 
efforts ; participating in the act of their extinc¬ 
tion, she has divided with England all the odi¬ 
um, and has been a party to her own degradation. 

The Austrians are a kind and excellent peo¬ 
ple, but they were never popular*, because the 
poverty, or, in some cases, the simulated pover- 

* Except in the Tyrol, where the people would submit 
to ro taxation; and therefore Austria was very indifferent 
about the recovery of that province. 


174 


ly of their government requiring heavy exac¬ 
tions, gave them the character of extortioners in 
countries where they governed. 


They made themselves no friends in the more 
civilized parts of Europe, for they never con¬ 
formed themselves to the spirit of the age*; but 
now they have excited an ill will from a combi¬ 
nation of errors and disappointed hopes, which 
facilitate the operations of hostile cabinets, and 
which, if not soothed and quickly soothed, will 
prepare the way for greater misfortunes. 

Austria is naturally the promontory, which 
forms the advanced bulwark of Europe against 
the North ; but until France can again be connect¬ 
ed with the line of defence , until the Carpathian 
mountains are linked to the Alps, by friendly 

* All these observations apply to the system, not to the 
individuals acting under it. In the late war Schwartzenberg 
and Bellegarde did every thing that could be done to con¬ 
ciliate public feeling, and did it with natural benignity as 
well as good policy. The officers of their armies adopted 
the same line of conduct, but the necessities of the state 
counteracted all th^ir partial efforts. They mitigated the 
evil; but as they could not supply the treasury, Burke’s ob¬ 
servation, that “ it is no more given to man to tax and to 
please, than to love and be wise,” was here verified. 


175 


countries as well as governments, she cannot pro¬ 
vide for her own security, much less charge 
herself with the maintenance of the European 
balance of power. 

The minister of Austria, a man of eminent ta¬ 
lent, and who has indisputably done much for 
his country, is said to boast “ that his cabinet 
never indulges imagination in politicsbut it 
would be well if it also had remembered For¬ 
tune has wings as well as hands; that when 
she stretches forth one, she spreads the other; 
and if her caress is slighted, she flits away, nor 
can prayers nor art prevail on her to return. 


TURKEY. 

This is a state, against whose existence civi¬ 
lization en masse would long since have marched, 
had not the safety of neighbouring states been 
compromised by its dissolution. 

When Turkey ceased to be a conquering 
power—when there was no longer any appre¬ 
hension of her substituting through Europe, the 
Koran for the Gospel; Sweden, Poland, Aus- 


176 


tria, France, and England, at various epochs 
courted her alliance, and rendered her contri- 
butive to the balance of power. 

The partition of Poland, however, broke the 
chain which grappled her to European policy; 
and since that event, she has been gradually 
isolating, and obliged to buy her repose with 
sacrifices that rendered its duration less pro¬ 
bable. 

Turkey, However, had an opportunity in the 
year ] 813, to recover a line of defence, which 
might have afforded some protection: she sign¬ 
ed, nevertheless, a treaty, which placed her 
still more at the mercy of Russia; and although 
she was aware of her error before the wax was 
cold, no temptation could induce her to violate 
her good faith. 

The Divan was not insensible to the danger 
of Turkey, under any result of the Russian inva¬ 
sion ; in their opinion the success of either pow¬ 
er was equally fatal to the Ottoman interests. 

They did not, however, foresee that Russia 
would not in the first instance fulfil the condi- 


17 ? 


lions of a treaty, which had been so advantage¬ 
ous to her: they had even flattered themselves, 
that Russia would have generously restored all 
the cessions they had so gratuitously and im- 
providently made. 

But although their treatment gives them the 
right of war, or rather of the renewal of hos*- 
tilities (for between Turkey and Russia it may 
be said “ helium semper manet , pugna cessaf^ . w 
still the very violations, by the offensive power 
they would supply to Russia, render submission 
more necessary. 

Turkey has altogether twenty-two millions of 
nominal subjects*— twelve in Europe, and ten in 
Asia : of these, however, two millions and a half 
are Egyptians, a people who never serve in the 
armies; and above four millions are Greeks, 
who are only employed on board the ships of 
war, where they must fight, or lose their heads 
by the scymitars of the petty officers. 

* Le Sage gives twenty-eight millions ; but this calcula^ 
tion is as much above the calculation of other geographers* 
as his Russian census is below theirs. 

a a 


178 


It is true, every Turk is a soldier, and a 
brave one; bqt he is ungovernable, and there¬ 
fore an easy conquest. 

The Turks have not only to resist the Rus¬ 
sians on the Danube, and in Armenia: but they 
havp to keep in subjection the Greek popula- 
tipn, and suppress rebellion amongst them¬ 
selves ; which, like the flame on the mountain 
of Deliktash # , is never extinguished, although 
it never expands so as to threaten general de¬ 
struction. 

It is true, that Sultan Mahmoud is a man of 
ability and instruction, having, whilst in his 
prison awaiting the succession to the thronef. 

* Captain Beaufort, whose Travels in Caramania afford 
a trait of British humanity most honourable to himself and 
country, when he suffered not the unfeeling calculations of 
prudence to permit sixty unfortunate Turks to be massacred 
in cold blood in sight of a British flag, notices this moun¬ 
tain, of which Pliny made mention, and from collateral cir¬ 
cumstances suggests, that the stories now in circulation 
about Moosa Dagli (the Mountain of Moses), which is im¬ 
mediately contiguous to Deliktash, may have some fanciful 
connexion with the story in Exodus, of the burning bush on 
Mount Horeb ! 

i The lot of all the heirs apparent in that country. 


179 


been educated by the unfortunate Selim ih the 
duties of government*. 


Mahmoud has also shown great courage and 
presence of mind; qualities highly essential, 
when Janissaries with swords in hand some¬ 
times appear unsummoned in his councils. But 
what can be done with a tumultuous people, 
whose obstinacy is equal to their ignorance, 
and whose energies will submit to no regula¬ 
tion and discipline ? 

% 

To urge Turkey into war, is to counsel hel* 
to destruction. There are certainly som6 
means of resistance left, which rashness would 
render unavailable. 

Time is now her only salvation : if she pro¬ 
fits by that time, to organize inoffensively a sys¬ 
tem of defence suitable to the exigency of her 

# The fate of Selim is universally regretted in Turkey; 
and the Janissaries, even in the Seraglio, now sing con¬ 
stantly the song which he made the day before his death, 
and in which he pathetically describes his misfortunes; de¬ 
clares, that the good of his country influenced all his ac¬ 
tions ; and makes an appeal to the people, deprecating 
their cruelty, inasmuch as he was the agent of a destiny 
directing their welfare. 


no 


position, it may yet be some years before a 
Te Deum is sung in Saint Sophia. But “ if she 
does not well choose the beginning and onset 
of things, if she is deceived with long shadows, 
so as to shoot off before the enemy is tangible, 
she may teach dangers to come on by oyer- 
early buckling towards them.” 

Mahmoud must cover the turban with the 
helmet of Pluto, “ making the politic man go 
invisible,” until he can carry his councils into 
execution; or, if previously attacked, trust to 
despair, which, by giving strength to fanaticism, 
may afford means to preserve the throne of 
barbarism. 

ENGLAND. 

Two parties divide England. 

One is of opinion that continental connexion 
is injurious to her interests, and fatal to her 
liberties; the other proclaims, that not a cam 
non should be fired in Europe without the re¬ 
ply of one charged by British subsidies, and 
that military glory is of more value than com 
stitutional freedom. 


181 


It would not be difficult to prove the position 
of the one party. 

Eight hundred millions of funded, and sixty - 
four millions of unfunded debt, eight millions of 
annual poor rates*, and the suspension of the 
Habeas Corpus in time of peace , are axioms 
which no logic can overthrow. 

The other party, if they could find guineas, 
would doubtless proceed in their rage for lau¬ 
rels as the Dutchmen did for tulips, until the 
native soil threatened to yield nothing but nox¬ 
ious plants manured with blood, and moistened 
by the tears of a famishing people ; but the 
ability to pursue their ventures is regulated by 
the supply of money, which can be procured 
for exportation to foreign cabinets. 

There is no want of political hypothesis to 
form plans of action. Sir Home Popham’s 
telegraph cannot make more changes than Eu¬ 
rope can offer convolutions to the speculative 
eye of a state geometrician, who, unrestrained 

* With contributions, loans, &c. perhaps this year near¬ 
er twelve millions. 


]82 


by the ancient doctrines of independence, rights 
of nations, and treaties, forms his political sys¬ 
tem on the basis of square miles and capitation 
taxes. 

It is, however, fortunate for humanity that 
subsidies are at last preventive checks: En¬ 
gland can engage in no fancy Wars; the first 
gun, by obliging the minister of finance to bor¬ 
row, whilst he at the same time would be com¬ 
pelled to fund sixty-four millions of Exchequer 
bills, at a loss of between twenty and thirty per 
cent, would blow up the whole system of pub¬ 
lic credit; and as no government can pretend 
to confine the concussion to that catastrophe, 
as no man can foresee the effect such an event 
might have on all the establishments, and all the 
property of the country ; the temple of Janus 
must be kept shut, notwithstanding the disap¬ 
pointment of contractors and glory-hunters. 

Defensive war for the rights of England is 
quite another consideration; the tender of lives 
and fortunes would be no 64 mouth profession” 
against any attempt made, insidiously, or sword 
in hand, on her independence, or what remains 


183 


©f her liberties, if the nation were allowed to pro¬ 
tect them . 

Every Englishman would, like Rostopchin, 
when he placed the torch to the curtains of his 
marriage-bed to fire a splendid palace, solicit 
the sacrifice of all he could offer on the altar of 
his country, even if, like Rostopchin, he thought 
it might be beneficial only by example. 

There is no doubt, that it was the interest 
of England to have conciliated France, and in¬ 
gratiated herself in the esteem of her people. 

When Russia became a great and command¬ 
ing European power, jealousy of the ascendancy 
of France ought to have existed no longer; for 
France alone could offer an efficient equipoise : 
but to ally England to a government , and declare 
war against the nation , was justifiable by no po¬ 
licy, on no principle, and by no precedent. 

In the reign of Louis XIV. when ideas of 
prerogative , of legitimacy , and divine right , were 
at their climax of folly, there was no attempt 
to control the will of the people in this country. 


134 


Cardinal Mazarin* the prime minister, not only 
acknowledged the government, but even court¬ 
ed the alliance of Cromwell! Whatever might 
have been his motive, the principle of national 
right in the choice of the form of government, and 
of the chief of that government , w r as sanctioned 
by his conduct. 

When Cromwell died, his successor was ac¬ 
knowledged ; when the Stuarts returned, they 
were also recognised as sovereigns by all fo¬ 
reign states. When James and his dynasty 
were declared to have forfeited the crown by 
withdrawing from England, and for being un¬ 
worthy of it in Scotland, William the Third 
was involved in no dispute with Franee about 
the legitimacy of his rights. It is true, that these 
pretenders, James and his son, received assist¬ 
ance from France; but the object of that as¬ 
sistance was not to strengthen the claims of 
James, but to weaken the pow er of England. 

Thus a government, which permitted no 
right of its own subjects, whose pow er was not 
founded on any prescribed fixed contract be¬ 
tween the governor and governed, but where 


185 


even the will of the King was considered to be 
law , nevertheless respected the rights of a rival 
nation; whilst the government of a nation 
which cannot dispute the right of election of a 
first magistrate to be vested in the people, with¬ 
out giving the throne back to the Stuart dynas¬ 
ty, first declares to the French people, through 
her General, 44 that it can treat with no govern¬ 
ment, but that of Louis XVIII.and then in a 
public treaty proclaims that it appropriates a Bri¬ 
tish army to the service of the King of France for 
operations against his people at his own request . 

At Vienna, on the 12th of May 1815, the mi¬ 
nisters of the allied powers drew up a declara¬ 
tion, which they published to Europe, stating, 
44 that the governments they represented, knew 
too well the principles which should guide them 
in their relations with an independent country , to at¬ 
tempt (as they had been accused) any imposition 
of laws upon it , to meddle with its internal affairs, to 
assign it any form of government , or to give rulers 
in compliance with the interests or passions of its 
neighbours” 

fi b 


186 


Lord Clancarty, when communicating this 
act, observed, in his official dispatch— 44 In this 
war the sovereigns do not propose to interfere 
with any lawful rights of the French people. 
They have no intention to oppose the right which 
this nation has to choose the form of government 
ft thinks suitable, nor to trespass in any manner 
on its independence as a great and free people .” 

To make assurance doubly sure, or to accom¬ 
plish the machinations then planned, the En¬ 
glish minister, in a dispatch, dated 44 Foreign 
Office, London, April 25, 1815,” writes, 44 But 
this treaty must not be considered as binding on 
his Britannic Majesty to continue the w r ar with 
the object of imposing on France any particular 
form of government , whatever may be the anxi¬ 
ety of the Prince Regent to see His Most Chris¬ 
tian Majesty restored to the throne.” 

Austria echoed the British sentiment, and in 
a note dated Vienna, May 4, 1815, proclaim¬ 
ed, that 44 the Emperor, although irrevocably 
resolved to direct all his efforts against the 
usurpation of Napoleon Buonaparte (as this 
object had been expressed in the third article 


13? 


of the treaty of the 25th of March), is neverthe¬ 
less convinced, that the duty imposed on him by 
the interests of his subjects and his own prin¬ 
ciples, will not permit his continuation of the war, 
to impose on France any government whatsoever 

After these solemn professions, conveyed in 
such unequivocal language, and sustained not 
only by a variety of manifestoes and proclama¬ 
tions, but by the most formal pledges in the Bri¬ 
tish parliament, who does not feel an honest con¬ 
fusion and blush at the prostitution of his coun¬ 
try's faith, when he reads in Macerom’s * -ifc, 
pages 43, 44, and 50, that “ the restoration of 
Louis was a 4 sine qua non 1 with the British minis¬ 
ters ? for no commander would have dared, on 
his own authority, to have charged himself 
with such a criminal responsibility; hut to pre¬ 
vent the possibility of such a suspicion, these 
ministers did not only sanction the act, but they 
further negotiated and signed a convention, 
which in the following words engaged to maintain 
by the bayonets of Englishmen in opposition to 
the French senate and people, Louis and the 
form of government so forcibly established* : 

* To prove that the government of Louis was forcibly esta- 


188 


44 4 The allied sovereigns have, nevertheless, 
in consideration of the high interest which in¬ 
duces them to strengthen the authority of the le¬ 
gitimate sovereign, promised to His Most Chris¬ 
tian Majesty, to support him with their arms 
against all revolutionary convulsion tending to 
overturn by force the state of things actually 
established, and which would thus threaten 
anew the tranquillity of Europe. 

44 4 But not forgetting, that, under the variety 
of shapes in which the revolutionary spirit may 
still show itself in France, there might be 
doubts as to what cases might require the inter¬ 
ference of a foreign force ; and being well aware 
of the difficulty of giving precise instructions 
applicable to each particular case, the allied 
sovereigns have thought it most advisable to 
confide in the known prudence and discretion 
of the Duke of Wellington, the determination 
of the time and mode in which it would he proper 

blished, the Declaration of the Representatives solemnly as¬ 
sembled on the 5th of July, is added : vide document at the 
end of the work.—Exclusive of this document there was the 
Protest already alluded to, against the closing of the Cham¬ 
bers, and which may be produced hereafter 


189 


to employ the troops under his orders , in a fall con¬ 
fidence that he will in no case act without hav¬ 
ing previously concerted his measures with his Ma¬ 
jesty the King of France , and that he will ac¬ 
quaint, as soon as possible, the allied sovereigns 
with the motives which have engaged him to 
take his determinations.’ ” 

If this had been the act of Ministers alone, 
then, indeed, there would be ground for re¬ 
proach, but not for surprise. 

Ministers who could break faith with Genoa, 
Italy, and Naples, who could permit, if not 
directly assist, the overthrow of the Cortes, de¬ 
stroy the independent republic of Ragusa, 
which even the Turks had respected from the 
foundation of their European power*; wdro 
could propose a repartition of Poland, sanction 
the dismemberment of Saxony, under the plea of 


* Vide an animated appeal from Count de Bettera Wodo- 
pich, a noble Ragusan, accompanied with a protest of the 
senate, against the act by which the independence of this 
republic was annihilated. And for a faithful and most 
eloquent exposition of the state of Europe, vide Henry 
Brougham’s memorable speech in Parliament on the 13th 
March, 1817* 


190 


inflicting a chastisement on a king , for doing that 
which had been done by all the partitioning 
sovereigns themselves; who could starve Nor¬ 
way, and be guilty of other manifold outrages 
against good faith, good sense, and the freedom 
of their own, as well as every other country : 
such ministers might indeed be supposed capa¬ 
ble of such a proceeding. But that a British 
Parliament, however subject that Parliament 
may have been for many years to ministerial in¬ 
fluence, should have sanctioned the measure, is 
a frightful symptom of decaying patriotism, and 
extinguished constitutional principles*. 

* A foreign minister said, the measure itself never met 
with any objection from the British negotiators; but as the 
British Parliament was fastidious about words, the diplo- 
matic grammarians had been obliged to give more than or¬ 
dinary attention to the language of this treaty of co-ope¬ 
ration. 

The Protest of Lord Holland will rescue himself and 
friends, for they all concurred in his sentiments, from the 
opprobrium as legislators ; but it does not, and nothing can, 
redeem the national character. It is, however, too im¬ 
portant a document not to be cited whenever this subject 
is discussed. 

Protest of Lord Holland in the House of Pews, against the 
Address in approbation of Treaties, on the 10th of Febru* 
any. 

<e Because the treaties and engagements contain a direct 
guarantee of the present government of France against the 


191 


It is not meant that England should have 
made a crusade against Louis. If the people 
had chosen him and his family, he would have 
been entitled to his throne; and resistance to 
that choice would then have been as criminal 
in opposing Louis, as it now is in supporting 
him with a Janissary force. 

If the people of France were still to choose 
him, or confirm him by voluntary allegiance, 
from that moment he would become the legiti- 
mate King of France, because he would hold 
his crown from and for the people. England 
could prescribe or proscribe no foreign dynasty 
without establishing a principle adverse to her 
own constitutional rights, and without an abuse 
of power, which may one day prove fatal to 
her own liberties*. 

people of that country; and, in my judgment, imply a 
general and perpetual guarantee of all European govern¬ 
ments against the governed. I hold such a design to be un* 
lawful , l believe it to be impracticable; and recollecting 
the principles on which the Revolution in 1688 , and the suc¬ 
cession of the House of Hanover were founded, I cannot 
give the sanction of my vote to a system, which if it had 
prevailed in those times, might have deprived this kingdom 
of all the benefits that have resulted from a national go¬ 
vernment and a free constitution.— Vassall Holland.” 

* No words can better prove the cruelty of the system, 


192 


England already has lost the world’s ho¬ 
mage ; no longer is she esteemed “ the friend 

as it affects individuals, in which this false step has involved 
the Allies, than those which were used by the writer of 
the following letter. Circumstances rendered this letter 
an official document; its publication may trespass on femi¬ 
nine delicacy ; but such an example of conjugal affection 
and fidelity is too honourable to woman, and beneficial in 
its effects on society, to be withheld from farther publicity. 

Literal Translation of a Letter , written after the Battle of 
Waterloo , by the Queen of Westphalia , to her Father , the 
King of Wirtemberg. 

i( Sire and Father, 

“ Your Majesty requested me to descend this morn¬ 
ing into your apartment. For the first time in my life I 
declined the happiness of being in your presence: I knew 
the subject of the interview; and fearing that my mind 
might not be sufficiently collected, i have dared to take the 
liberty of developing the motives of my conduct, and making 
an appeal to your paternal affection. 

" Your Majesty knows the whole truth. Yes, Sire, the 
Prince Jerome, your son-in-law, my husband and the father 
of my child, is with me ! Yes, Sire! I have withdrawn an 
instant from the palace of my King, to succour the husband 
to whom my life is attached. My thoughts have accompa¬ 
nied him to the w>ar—my care has preserved him in a long 
and painful journey, w r here his existence was often me¬ 
naced. My arms have embraced him in his misfortune 
with more tenderness than even in the time of our pro¬ 
sperity ! 

a The Prince Jerome is not the husband of my own 
choice. I received him from your hand, when his house 
reigned over great kingdoms—when his head wore a crown. 


183 


of the oppressed;” her promises have become 
a scoff and a by-word: she has alienated the 

Soon the sentiments of my heart cherished and confirmed 
the bonds which your policy had commanded. 

“ Marriage and nature impose duties which are not sub¬ 
ject to the vicissitudes,of fortune: I know their extensive 
obligations, and I know also how to fulfil them: I was a 
queen—I am still a wife and a mother ! The change of po¬ 
licy among princes, in overthrowing the French empire, has 
also destroyed the throne, on which your goodness, and the 
Prince my husband, had seated me. We were obliged to 
submit to the force of circumstances ! The august Maria 
Louisa afforded me a great example of resignation 5 but our 
situation is dissimilar. Public interests may command sacri¬ 
fices of permanent duration, or which may cease when the 
interests of a new policy render other changes inevitable. 

u Although chance has elevated us above the generality 
of mankind, we are much more to be pitied. A variable wilt 
controls our destiny ; but there its power ceases—it is im¬ 
potent against the obligations Providence imposes on us. 

te The husband which God and you yourself gave me— 
the child whom I have borne in my bosom—comprise my ex¬ 
istence. I have shared a throne with this husband, I will 
partake with him exile and misfortune : violence alone shall 
separate me from him. But, O my King ! O my father! I 
know your heart, your justice, and the excellence of your 
principles : I know what these principles have been at all 
times 011 the subject of those domestic duties which should 
be respected by the Princes of your House. 

“ 1 do not ask your Majesty, from affection for me, to 
make anj T change in that system of conduct which has been, 
adopted in conformity with the determinations of the most 
powerful Princes of Europe; but I throw myself at your 
feet to implore permission that my husband and myself may 
remain near your person : but, O my father ! if that must 
€ C 


194 


good-will even of those she assisted in their 
usurpations; and where her cause once en¬ 
gaged thousands of voluntary champions, not 
one apologist is now to be found. 

There is not an Englishman on the Conti-* 
nent, who has not been the object of insult, if 
not of execration. 

England, by her money, enabled Europe to 
combine and march against France; her as¬ 
sistance is acknowledged, but not with grati¬ 
tude ; such a sentiment would not have been 
excited, if her assistance had been considered 
as disinterested; for, as Tacitus justly says, 

not be, let us at least be restored to your favour before we 
remove to a foreign soil. It is only after having received 
some proof of your paternal love, that I can feel strength 
sufficient to appear before you. If we must go this very 
evening, let us depart with the assurance of your affection 
and protection in a happier time. Our misfortunes must 
have a period : policy will not always command in respect 
to us that which is humiliating, nor delight in the ruin and 
degradation of so many Princes, acknowledged in former 
treaties, and who have been allied to the most ancient and 
illustrious houses of Europe. Is not their blood mingled 
with ours ? Pardon me, my father and my Sovereign! 
for having thus expressed myself; but condescend, by a 
single word, to let me know that it has not been received 
with displeasure.” 


195 


JBcnejicia eo usque Iceta sunt dum videntur exsolvi 
posse , at ubi multum antevenere , pro gratia odium 
redditur ; but, on the contrary, her benefits are 
supposed to have originated from motives of 
mere self-interest, and, as such, to be destitute 
of all claim on European gratitude. Various 
powers feel that England also attaches herself 
to rival governments, not to preserve what she 
calls the balance of power, but to control the 
continental policy, and continue an exclusion 
from what they claim as a due share of mari¬ 
time advantages. 

Hence that jealousy of any returning prospe¬ 
rity to England, since that prosperity would af¬ 
ford stronger means to enforce these obnoxious 
checks: hence, the desire to deprive England 
of the presumed sources of her wealth : hence, 
the pleasure felt at the augmentation of the na¬ 
val power of America (for, although America 
might not be able for years to do what one of 
her Presidents once said she would do, “ draw 
a line of demarcation with her fleets, beyond 
which no European flag should be seen without 
a passport;” still it is well known, that every 
single ship of the line built by America, re^ 


196 


qaires, in case of war, a counteracting expen¬ 
diture on the part of England, equal to the 
maintenance of three sail : that as the Ameri¬ 
can marine increases, the English West India 
islands will require more garrisons, and the 
communications with India become more pre¬ 
carious); and hence, perhaps, those negotia¬ 
tions which have been carrying on from the 
quarter-deck of the Washington in the Medi¬ 
terranean, as well as the preference lately 
shown to the American flag in the Baltic. Envy 
Is not blind, and revenge never sleeps. 

The utterance of these truths may offend, 
but silence would injure: the hearing of them 
is painful, but wall be of use; therefore, as the 
philosopher said to his angry master, “ Strike, 
hut hear.” 

If England is true to herself, she may yet 
avoid shipwreck; hut if she looks to preserva¬ 
tion by connexion w ith France in her present 
state, and continental operations, involving her 
in war with Russia, which prudence might 
avoid without diminution of her power or pre¬ 
judice to her interests; her guns of distress 


197 


will soon be heard along her possessions in 
every quarter of the globe. 

England is an island, and she must return to 
the remembrance that she is one ; she perishes 
if she does not adopt an insular policy, and a 
truly British system ; she must withdraw her 
troops from the continent, attend to her naval 
power, and negotiate with the trident in her 
hand. She must moreover economize her ex¬ 
penses until she can appropriate, not an imagi¬ 
nary but a real sinking fund to the payment of 
her debts ; and above all she must re-establish 
her people in the enjoyment of that freedom 
which has been the source of her former happi¬ 
ness, and the soul of her energies and great¬ 
ness. 


No hostile policy could then endanger her 
safety, whilst general respect would replace 
her in peace with mankind. Her Secretaries 
of State would be no longer the arbitrary 
gaolers of her citizens ; nor the sea be covered 
with an emigrant population, flying from per¬ 
secution and famine. 


198 


Let her government be vigilant guardians of 
the laws, but let them not encourage that per¬ 
nicious crew, the scourge and bane of society, 
who are now' let loose with the wages of ini¬ 
quity in view, to harass and destroy their fel¬ 
low-citizens. 

It behoves those who guide the councils of 
the state, for their own sake, to gain the affec¬ 
tions and confidence of the people by a relin¬ 
quishment of that system which has estranged 
their attachment, and deprived authority of 
respect. Mankind is no longer in slavish ig¬ 
norance ; and the governments which have en¬ 
couraged education, must accompany the boon 
with a liberal attention to the rights of the 
community. After so many sacrifices in war , 
the people may fairly claim the enjoyment of 
their privileges in peace; and the greatest of 
all their privileges is liberty—it is peace itself. 
Pax est tranquilla libertas—Servitus malorum om¬ 
nium postrcmum , non modo hello sed morte etiam 
repellendum . 


199 


Document adverted to in p. 187 . 


CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
President —Count Lanjuinais, 

July 5, 1817. 


Declaration des Droits des Fran pais et des Prindpes 
fondamentaux de leur Constitution. 

Art. l er . Tous les pouvoirs emanent du peuple; la sou- 
verainete du peuple se compose de la reunion des droits de 
tous les citoyens. 

2 . La division des pouvoirs est le principe le plus ne r 
cessaire a Petablissement de la liberte et a sa conservation. 

3. La puissance legislative en France, se compose de 
trois pouvoirs toujours distincts dans leurs elemens et dans 
leur action; une chambre des representans, une chambre 
haute et un monarque. 

4. Dans la confection des lois, la proposition, la sanction 
et l’opposition appartiennent egalement aux trois branches 
de la puissance legislative. La loi n’existe que par leur 
accord. A la chambre des representans, exclusivement, 
appartient Pinitiative en trois matieres: les contributions 
publiques, les levees d’homines et Selection d’une nouvelle 
dynastie a Pextinction de la dynastie regnante. 

5. L’action du pouvoir executif ne s’exerce que par des 
ministres, tous responsables solidairement pour les determi¬ 
nations prises en commun ; chacun en particulier, pour les 
aetes particulars de son departement. 


200 


6. Le monarque est inviolable, sa personne est sacree. 
En cas de violation des lois et d’attentat contre la liberte et 
la surete individuelle ou publique, les ministres sont mis en 
accusation par la chambre des representans ; ils sont juges 
par la chambre-haute. 

7. La liberte de chaque individu consiste a pouvoir faire 
ce qai ne nuit pas a autrui. Aucune atteinte ne peat y etre 
et portee qu’au nom des lois , par leurs organes et sous dee 
formes assez precises pour ne pas etre eludes ou negligees. 

8 . La liberte de la presse est inviolable. Aucun ecrit ne 
peut etre soumis a une censure prealable. Les lois detenni- 
nent quels sont les abus de la presse assez graves pour etre 
qualifies crimes ou delits. Ils sont reprimes suivant les dif- 
ferens degres de gravite, par des peines, dont la severite 
sera aussi graduee, et par jugement de jures. 

9. Chaeun a liberte de professer ses opinions religieuses, 
et obtient la meme protection pour son culle. 

10. L’independarioe des tribunaux est gurantie. 

Les juges des cours de justice et des tribunaux civils sont 
inamovibles et a vie. Enmatiere criminelle , les debats sont 
publics , le fait est juge par des jures, et la loi appiiquee 
par des juges. 

11. Une instruction primaire, indispensable pour la con- 
naissance des droits et des devoirs de Phomme en society, 
est mise gratuitement a portee des toutes les classes du 
peuple. 

Les elemens des sciences, des belles-lettres et des beaux- 
arts, sont enseignes dans de bautes ecoles. 

12. La constitution garantit Tegalite des droits civils et 
politiques, Pabolition de la noblesse, des privileges, des 
qualifications feodales, des dimes, des droits feodaux et de 
la confiscation des biens. Elle garantit le droit de petition, 
les secours publics, l’inviolabilite des proprietes et de la 
dette publique, Pirrevocabilite de ('alienation des domaines 
nationaux de toute origiue, et Pegalite proportiouelle daiw 
la repartition des contributions; elk garantit enfin k mah> 


201 


Hen de la legion-d’honneur , des couleurs Rationales et des re¬ 
compenses pour les services civils et militaires. 

Elle ne reconnait point les ordres monastiques et les vceux 
perpetuels. 

13. Le prince soit hereditaire , soit appele par election, ne 
montera sur le trone de France qu’apres avoir prete et signe 
le serment d’observer et de faire observer la presente declara¬ 
tion. 

La presente declaration sera communiquee par un mes¬ 
sage a la chambre des pairs et a la commission de gojuverne- 
ment. 

La declaration est unanimement adopter. 

Au meme instant les cris de Vive la Nation se font enten¬ 
dre de toutes parts, au milieu des applaudissemens de Tas- 
semblee et des tribunes. 

M. Dupin*. Je demande que la resolution soit sur-le- 
champ envoyee a la chambre des pairs. II faut qu’on sache 
que la representation nationale toute entiere partage les 
nobles sentimens exprimes dans la declaration ; il faut que 
tout ce qu’il y a d’honnetes gens, d’hommes raisonnables, 
d’amis d’une liberte sage, sachent que leurs voeux ont 
trouve ici des interpretes, et que la force elle-meme ne 
pourrait nousempecher de les emettre. 

* The generous and eloquent defender of Messrs. Wilson, 
Bruce, and Hutchinson. 


D <1 


202 


GEOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDUM. 

Previous to the treaty of Vienna, Bucha¬ 
rest, and Teflis, Russia was composed of fifty- 
seven governments, extending over a space of 
nine hundred and twenty thousand square leagues , 
being the ninth part of the Terra Firma, and the 
tiventy-eighth of the whole globe*. The Roman 
empire in the time of its greatest dominion, 
never equalled European Russia in extent, and 
European Russia is but a third of the whole 
Russian empire. 


The population, however, is concentrated in 
European Russia, since, of the computed forty- 
two millions of Russian inhabitants, not above 
five are Asiatic, and in the seven governments 
surrounding the government of Moscow, which 
government itself contains one million one hundred 
and thirty-nine thousand , there are, according to 
the statement of Le Saget, whose calculations 

* The American settlements are not included. 

t Governments round Moscow, from Le Safe’s Table. 

Twer, 904,000 I. Vladimir, 871,0091. 

Smolensk, 892,000 I. Riasan, 869,000 1. 

Kaluga, 771,000 1. Tula, 876,000 1. 

Yaroslaw, 766,0001. 


203 


are far beiw the real amount, above six mil¬ 
lions of inhabitants. It must also be remarked, 
that the extreme distance of any part of these 
seven governments is not more than three hundred 
miles from the city of Moscow, and the average 
distance of their frontiers is about two hundred 
and fifty . 

In the year 1799, Tooke calculated, after the 
Greek tables, that Russia contained forty millions 
of inhabitants: Storck, at the end of the eigh¬ 
teenth century, computed the population at thir¬ 
ty-six millions: Sablowski, in his Geography of 
Russia, rates it at forty-one millions ; and in his 
Statistics, at forty-four ; and the St. Petersburgh 
Almanack for 1800, makes the number forty-two 
millions . Since that period Alexander has added 
one hundred and ninety-three thousand eight hundred 
geographical square miles to the empire, in¬ 
cluding the Duchy of Warsaw, Finland, Geor¬ 
gia, &c.; and therefore the estimate of forty-two 
millions of present population is probably seve¬ 
ral millions too low. Malthus admits the ten¬ 
dency to increase to be very great, especially 
in Siberia; and the increased price of corn, &c. 
proves his supposition to be founded on truth. 


204 


In a work by C. T. Herman, from the Me¬ 
moirs of the Petersburgh Academy, published 
in 18 ] 1 , there is much minute detail relative to 
the population of Russia. The author had ac¬ 
cess to all the official reports, and the Govern¬ 
ment has long been employed in obtaining ac¬ 
curate revisions , or census tables. 


He states that there were of peasants in tiie 
several tax lists, and therefore probably less 
than the real amount: 

In 1796 - - 15,718,088 males. 

1800 - - 15,707,781 

1801 - - 15,747,379 

1802 - - 15,895,608 

1803 - - 15,824,287 

1804 - - 15,806,778 

While the sum total of the enumerations of 
1804 amounted to 41,253,488 inhabitants, which 
included a progress of population during ten 
years of 1,250,000 individuals, at the calcula¬ 
tion of only one fourth of the surplus of births 
above deaths (amounting annually to five hun¬ 
dred thousand ), reaching the age of eighteen or 
twenty. 


205 


Again he states: 

“ According to these data the progress of 
population in Russia, produced partly by the 
improvement in the interior, partly by new ac¬ 
quisitions, has been as follows : 

In 1772 . 14 millions. 

1742 . 16 . . . after 20 years. 

1762 . 19 . . . after 20 

1782 . 28 . . . after 20 

1796 . 36 . . . after 14 

1806 . 41 . . . after 10 

Of which forty-one millions , thirteen millions have 
been acquired in Little Russia, the Swedish, 
Polish, and Turkish provinces. 

“ The indigenous population of Russia has 
thus more than doubled during the last centu¬ 
ry; whilst Smith supposes that the population in 
civilized countries only doubles once in five hun¬ 
dred years. 

“ It has doubled in consequence of a better 
regulated administration; of the saving which 
the government has procured to the nation— 
of the capitals of foreigners placed in the coun¬ 
try, and which for a long time constituted the 



206 


soul of the commerce in the interior; in con¬ 
sequence of the progress of national industry, 
which was the result of the increase of know¬ 
ledge ; by new commercial connexions with the 
other countries of Europe; and by the means 
of instruction furnished by the government to 
the inhabitants of Russia; and, finally, in con¬ 
sequence of the removal of several obstacles 
which opposed the progress of industry, as the 
abolition of the douancs of the interior, under 
the reigns of Elizabeth and Catherine, the im¬ 
provement of roads, and the multiplication of 
canals.” 

He then presumes that the population of Rus¬ 
sia will remain a long time between forty-one 
and forty-three millions ; but he adds : M Unfore¬ 
seen circumstances (exclusive of conquest) may 
give a considerable population to the south of 
Russia: for example, the astonishing commerce 
of grain at Odessa, between 1800 and 1805 
(much augmented latterly), increased the va¬ 
lue of all the lands as far as Kiow, and even 
the fertile Steppes were cultivated. Workmen 
were wanting, and half the produce was offer¬ 
ed to those who would gather in the other half 
The commerce of Taganrock likewise furnishes 


207 


ground for hope; and agriculture appears to be 
making progress amongst the Nomades.” 

He concludes by observing that 
“ A country is not sufficiently peopled when 
the demand for workmen, and the means of 
maintaining them, are excessive, as in some of 
the southern parts of Russia. A country suf¬ 
fers from its population, when the thousands of 
rich are obliged to maintain the millions of poor . 
Such an abusive population must either perish , or 
leave the country , or produce revolutions. 

REVENUE. 

The revenue of Russia is difficult to ascer¬ 
tain, but her exports some years since in corn, 
masts, flax, tallow and hides, furs, skins, iron, 
copper, and salt, &c. &c. &c. amounted to be¬ 
tween five and six millions sterling ; and it wa^ 
supposed that the revenue averaged about 
, twelve millions sterling annually; which, consider¬ 
ing the difference in the value of money between 
England and Russia, is more than equal to all 
the necessities of the state, when the debt is 
discharged, and which is now in a course of li¬ 
quidation. 


208 



This revenue is the more solid, because it ig 
not, as in England, and in other countries, the 
produce of an excessive taxation*. _ 

The paper rouble, is always at a discount; 
but such was the confidence of the Russians at 
Moscow, when the enemy had taken the capital, 
that it was at no greater discount there than 
at Petersburgh, nor did the sight of gold make 
the least impression on the seller, so as to re¬ 
duce the price demanded. 


Copper is the chief coin; but the copper 
pieces called copecks are of great size and 
weight, though they are forty to a shilling. Vast 
quantities of ducats are also in circulation, and 
may be had to any amount in exchange against 
paper. 

* In the Ukase, dated’St. Petersburgh, April 10, 1817, 
Alexander, when promulgating the new regulations for the 
discharge of the public debt, uses these remarkable words, 
which must excife the envy and wonder of every other 
European state : Ci After a war as fatal in its origin as glori¬ 
ous in its result, by the aid of the Almighty (and British 
subsidies) this war has been concluded without any augmen¬ 
tation of the taxes, and without having injured public credit.’’ 


THE END, 




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